Any change, however, depended on the party’s executive board and the candidates, he said.

Chuan, however, said that he would rather leave the opportunity for new leaders, as he had already served two consecutive terms as head of government. Chuan was speaking yesterday at a Songkran religious celebration in his hometown and political stronghold of Trang province.

“I have explained to many Democrat members that we need to pave the way for new people. What we’re trying to do now is draw new people into the party,” the former Democrat chief said. “They are not necessarily young people. They can be anyone who is good, knowledgeable and honest.”

Supachai, an adviser to the Democrat Party, was a former secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and director of the World Trade Organisation before that.

Chuan said Supachai could be the next leader if he won the vote in the party and agreed to take the reins.

Currently, Abhisit remains head of the Democrat Party, he said, adding the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has not yet allowed any meetings of political parties.

But once the ban is lifted, Chuan said that the party had to vote for a new leader following the new rules imposed by the new organic laws. Abhisit could keep his position only after winning a new vote, he added.

Meanwhile, fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was among the first to take to social media to wish Thai people happiness and good health. He also said that he joined Thai people in hoping that for the next Songkran the country would have an elected government.

It was his first post since March last year. His sister and former premier Yingluck Shinawatra remains inactive on social media since fleeing the country in August last year. But a photo of Yingluck with her son went viral on the Internet yesterday, showing both getting blessings from Thaksin, reportedly in Thaksin’s home in Dubai.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday accepted a request to review the constitutionality of the MP election bill. The move potentially could delay the election now planned for February next year.

Sudarat Keyuraphan, a key member of Pheu Thai Party, also wished the people happiness on her Facebook page and said that they have the strength to get through any obstacles and contribute to the country.

Meanwhile, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, celebrated Songkran in Udon Thani province in the Northeast during his trip to meet with local people, listening to their issues in preparation for the upcoming election.

A Facebook live broadcast yesterday showed Thanathorn visiting a temple and also hanging out with the local people.

Many observers see the current Constitution, which came into effect in April last year, as designed to favour an unelected PM candidate and smaller political parties. The mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation system will be adopted for the first time in the next election. Under this electoral system, each voter gets two votes – one to elect the representative for their constituency and the other for the candidate’s political party.

The new electoral system will make it very difficult for any political party to gain an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. So, it is highly likely that the administration to be formed after the election will be a coalition government.

In the MMP representation system, “every vote counts” and all the votes each party gets will be calculated to determine how many House seats they translate into. So there will be a lot of smaller parties in the Lower House.

However, collectively or in large groups, those tiny players can become a critical factor in the post-election numbers game to form a coalition.

Moreover, a constitutional clause allows a non-MP prime minister if the Lower House fails to agree on who should become the next head of government. The clause states that if the Lower House fails to agree on the PM candidate, a joint meeting with the Senate shall be convened to select the government head. All the 250 senators are selected by the ruling junta – the National Council for Peace and Order – and in the second round, the PM candidates can be anyone, not just those in the political parties’ lists.

This is where Prayut stands a good chance of being nominated and chosen to become prime minister again. He could claim legitimacy as a “neutral choice”, as the winning parties failed to reach an accord. The more the number of parties in the Lower House, the higher the likelihood of them failing to reach an agreement, and consequently the better the chance for Prayut to “fill the void”.

In addition to support from the junta-appointed Senate, Prayut could also find future allies in many political parties who would be ready to back him if “the offer were right”. Also, there are other parties that exist or are being formed with the main purpose of bringing Prayut back as prime minister after the election. These include the Bhum Jai Thai Party, which is drawing many former MPs and politicians due to confidence in its leader Anutin Charnvirakul and financiers.

Certain government figures also are reportedly planning a new political party that will be pro-military. They mainly are from the government’s economic team, namely Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who is in charge of the economic affairs, Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana, and Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong.

This party-in-the making is attracting many former MPs and veteran politicians from various parties.

Prayut could also get the backing from new parties who have clearly expressed their preference for him. These include the People Reform Party and one to be formed by certain leaders of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee. And there are some small parties and political factions to whom Prayut had earlier extended his hand of friendship. They include the Phalang Chon Party and a Pheu Thai Party faction led by the Sasomsap brothers. Middle-sized parties like Chart Thai Pattana and Chart Pattana, with a long history of joining winning coalitions, could also provide necessary support for General Prayut to become the next PM – certainly if they get satisfactory offers.

The photos showing Yingluck and her son Supasek Amornchat pouring water to get a blessing from Thaksin were posted by the red-shirt-linked Peace TV’s Kom Khao Facebook page.

The photo were allegedly taken at Thaksin’s home in Dubai.

“For this Songkran, I wish all the fellow Thai people happiness and good health,” Thaksin wrote.

“I want to be a moral support for everyone to get through any obstacle and let’s hope that in the next Songkran, we will finally have a government elected by the people.”

The post was the first since March last year. In the afternoon, KhomkaoTV24 Facebook page posted two photos of Thaksin pouring water on a Buddha image and his sister; former premier Yingluck Shinawatra and her son; Pike, pouring water on Thaksin’s hands on the occasion of Songkran Festival.

The caption reads these happened in Thakin’s residence in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Constitution Court on Wednesday accepted the petition to review the constitutionality of the MP election organic bill. It is expected that the election currently planned for February next year will be postponed again.

The stickers will be available free of charge for the millions of Line application users across the country.

The project, which is run by the Government Spokesman Bureau, will last for a year in the Line “universe”. The bureau will spend Bt4.32 million to create a 12-month Line official account airing 25 messages per month and Line official home airing 60 messages per month. Another Bt2.25 million will be spent for an even shorter period on the market. The cost covers the distribution of eight Line sticker characters designed by the bureau, for 30-day free downloads. The stickers have a 90-day lifespan.

The total cost, with VAT included, top Bt7.029 million, according to the Bureau’s procurement papers. The figures are based on the market prices provided by Line Co (Thailand) Ltd.

The public-relations project became widely talked about with many people recounting their negative impression of the junta’s 2014 version of Line stickers promoting its “12 values of virtues”.

Participants in social media discussions suggested it cost millions of baht to create an official PR account and a full set of sponsored stickers with Line. But they also asked whether Bt7 million of taxpayers’ money should be spent on such a project.

“Line users in Thailand are still considerably minor compared with the whole [global] population. Last time, Bt7 million was spent on creating stickers to promote intangible values. Seriously, for what?” wrote one commenter.

Government Spokesperson Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd dodged having any involvement in the project yesterday. “It is included in an annual project by civil servants at the bureau. As a political appointee, I’m not involved in that,” Sansern told The Nation. The Bureau’s director, Natthriya Thaweevong, reiterated that the project was not for political purposes. “This project should be maintained despite future changes of government,” she said. “Thailand houses the world’s second-largest Line user community, so we plan to equip this application to respond to our audiences’ communication behaviour.”

The project is only at the conceptual stage with no action yet taken. “But we hope to create Line stickers that reflect our mandate to provide information to the public,” the director said. IT experts also doubted the project would be worth the investment, especially if the government wishes to lure people to their Line official accounts by offering free stickers.

“Users will just block the official account from sending them PR messages once they get those stickers,” said Poomjit Sirawongprasert, president of the Thai Hosting Service Providers Club. “And why is the government focusing only on Line and not other applications like Facebook?”

According to We Are Social digital agency and Hootsuite social media dashboard, Thailand has 51 million active social-media users and 46 million users accessing via mobile devices.

Facebook remained the most popular social media platform, accounting for 75 per cent of all users, surpassing the 68 per cent using Line.

Arthit Suriyawongkul, coordinator of Thai Netizen Network, said that the official Line account is worth paying for if it can deliver useful information to people. “But it will be otherwise if they’re only used to spread propaganda that people find annoying,” Arthit said. “And an official account requires annual payments to be sustained also.”

Nuttaputch Wongreanthong, a digital marketing expert, agreed that accessibility and types of information to be conveyed via the government’s Line channels need to be taken into account to evaluate project worthiness.

“This is no different from how every government buys ads from traditional media to reach out to audiences,” he said. “Given Line’s popularity, it’s no surprise the government came to choose this channel. The question is whether the channel can really respond to its active PR approach. A large number of followers don’t always justify the cost.”

Nine groups, not necessarily the same as the 15 groups already mentioned, have received permission from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to hold an assembly. A total of 30 groups had sought permission, Election Commission (EC) acting secretary-general Pol Colonel Jarungwit Phumma said yesterday.

The official advised that groups needed to be clear and detailed in their request to hold an assembly – including information regarding the venue and schedule – if they expected approval.

The EC, since March 2, has been open for political groups to request registration as a political party. The agency also acts as a medium through which groups could seek permission from the NCPO to hold meetings while the ban on political parties remained in place.

As of April 3, 98 parties have requested to be registered, according to the EC.

An acceptance letter would be sent to successful groups. They could then conduct activities, such as signing up members and collecting membership fees. Unless they succeed in attracting 500 members and Bt1 million in funding within six months of receiving their acceptance letter, their status as a legitimate political party would not get final endorsement.

Jarungwit said the acceptance letter would be issued on a first come first serve basis. Only 15 groups had been approved to form a party due to the extensive scrutiny of the application, including checking qualifications of the founding members, he said.

In a related development, red-shirt leader Nattawut Saikua said that the umbrella group United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship had allowed all its leaders to choose whichever party they wanted to join as the elections approached.

Nattawut’s remark came after the movement of political figures had been reactivated after almost four years of inactivity following the coup.

Nattawut said as long as those parties uphold democratic values and did not support dictatorship, the red-shirt leaders were free to join any of them.

“I consider myself an actor,” Sombat told The Nation in a colourful room of the Mirror Foundation of which he was once the chairman. “People don’t like seriousness. They like fun. If you want them to listen to you, be funny.”

Targeting all parties

Sombat is stepping up his role in politics with plans to form an alternative Grean Party, whose rough translation in Thai is “troll”. That, Sombat said, is exactly what his planned party aims to do.

“We’re going to troll every party out there. Whatever policies they will present, we will tease them, triggering more creative debates on social issues,” said Sombat, who is also widely known as Bor Kor Lai Jood or “Dotty Editor”, dubbed after the 101 Dalmatians movie from years ago.

From Sombat wearing a dotty doggie hat to the election to playing an RoV online game with Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, people may not be able to comprehend how the Grean Party could emerge as an alternative party in the next election.

Who would imagine that a busty net idol, Rungtawan Chaiha, would not only join Sombat’s team in smashing Thanathorn in an online game but also be of political interest to Sombat?

“Why not? She can encourage a great deal of public interest in e-Sport, a significant part of modern technology,” Sombat said of Rungtawan, who has attracted over 940,000 followers on her Facebook account.

While Rungtawan’s fondness to show off her large cleavage is always controversial, her skill and understanding as an online game administrator is unquestionable.

“Those who follow her may or may not be political fans. And my goal is to make politics more touchable, even to those who are apolitical,” Sombat said. “Although I haven’t seriously thought of asking her to be a party member yet.”

So, does the Grean Party just plan to have fun? No, says Sombat categorically. They follow a pirate party model, which has been long active in European countries but remains new to Thailand.

Instead of broad policies that aim to win over voters nationwide, pirate parties focus on less-mainstream social and minority issues. The Grean Party, with its share of NGO advocates and thinkers, should be no different.

Currently, the Grean Party is working on a range of issues: from rabies management, eSport, LGBT, arts and culture, reduction of paper work for school teachers to creating online, free encyclopaedia via crowdsourcing methods much like Wikipedia.

But people’s needs are far more than that. Mainstream parties would be able to respond to just a dozen of them, mostly the major, national level ones.

Focusing on issues of lesser public interest, however, should not be ignored just because they might not get them as many votes as possible.

Several mechanisms in the junta-written 2017 charter can be expected to hinder parties in the election battle. This does not mean that the Grean Party would take politics lightly.

“Despite how we may look, we’re committed to become the people’s institution. We would like to have one or two MPs in the system. We have the ambition to be around for at least 20 years,” he said

“We don’t want to become so big as to come to power. However, we want to maintain our identity as a party that gathers social think tanks to create and reflect public policies proposed by both us and other political parties,” he added.

He dubbed the Grean Party as “issue-based”. The party will bring together members with varied interests and backgrounds before formulating policies and then presenting them to the public.

No to populism

He made it clear that they would not make policies that “pampered the masses like how most parties do”.

“We would open spaces for thinkers of small-scale ideas that are generally ignored by major parties.”

While taking on parties with different ideologies may be the least of their concerns – as they plan to “troll” every party from the start – there are still huge challenges for the Grean Party, if it is registered, to hold primary elections in all its contesting constituencies, find sufficient number of members to get such votes, and raise money for its activities.

But in this so-called 4.0 era, Sombat said that everything should be more economically possible via online methods and available in the public free space.

“After all, we won’t stay in traditions parties have understood to abide by,” he added.

Sakonthi Phattiyakul was named by junta-appointed Bangkok Governor Asawin Kwanmuang to become one of his deputies, effective from Tuesday. Sakonthi will replace Chinnatat Meesuk, according to the governor’s order.

The order came just a week after Sakonthi, on April 3, was spotted at Government House meeting Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who reportedly is planning a new political party to support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return as head of government after the next election.

Joining Sakonthi at the meeting were former Democrat MP Nataphol Teepsuwan and former Chart Thai Pattana MP Chaiwut Thanakomanusorn, who are also expected to join the new party.

Sakonthi and Nataphol were among key figures in the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), which was led by Suthep Thaugsuban, another prominent Democrat Party politician. The PDRC held street protests for several months before the military seized power in the May 2014 coup led by General Prayut, then the Army chief.

A source said yesterday that Sakonthi would be responsible for preparing the new pro-Prayut party in its election battle in Bangkok. Sakonthi’s father, retired General Wanai, was formerly permanent secretary of the Defence Ministry and secretary-general of the National Security Council.

Sakonthi has submitted his resignation from the Democrat Party, effective from yesterday, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court yesterday agreed to review a bill concerning the election of MPs and a junta order concerning the political party organic law.

The National Legislative Assembly earlier this month filed a petition to the court over the constitutionality of the MP election bill.

The ombudsman sought a court ruling on the constitutionality of junta Order No 53/60 which amended two articles of the political party organic law.

Parties were requested to submit further explanation on the cases by April 25.

Concerns were raised that the review of the bill may delay the election date.

The National Legislative Assembly early this month filed a petition to the court over the constitutionality of the MP election bill.

The ombudsman sought a court ruling on the constitutionality of junta order No 53/60 which amended two articles of the political party organic law.

Parties were requested to submit further explanation on the cases by April 25.

Concerns were raised that the review of the bill may delay the election date but Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha earlier vowed that the process would not affect the timetable for the election.

“I’m glad he is our country’s leader and a role model for all Thais for giving importance to Thainess,” Prem said.

Prem praised Prayut as the premier led his Cabinet members, commanders-in-chief, the national police chief and other top officials to visit Prem at his Si Sao Thewes residence to mark Songkran, the Thai new year.

The group paid respect to Prem in a water ceremony and received his blessing.

Prem said he hoped Prayut would succeed in his work and service of his motherland.

The veteran political figure asked about Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan who did not attend the ritual. Prayut said his deputy was on leave for heart bypass surgery.