The Democrat Party had only about 100,000 out of 2.5 million registered members confirming their memberships in April, during which National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), allowed existing parties to open for confirmation.

The Pheu Thai Party saw about 10,000 out of 130,000 registered members confirming their memberships during the period, which was set by a junta order issued in December.

Democrat deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat blamed the NCPO for the low number of confirmations. He said the junta did not allow parties to conduct any public relations and that the confirmation procedures set by authorities were “complicated”.

“Also many current members are not ready to pay their membership fees,” he added.The annual membership fee is Bt100 and a lifetime membership fee is Bt2,000.

However, Nipit said he did not think the low confirmation number would affect the party’s performance at the next election. Ongart Klampaiboon, another deputy Democrat leader, echoed that claim yesterday.

Pheu Thai leader Viroj Pao-in said that many registered party members disagreed with the need to pay membership fees, so they simply did not confirm their membership.

The party’s secretary-general, Phumtham Wechayachai, blamed the junta’s “attempt to reset the existing political parties” for the low number of confirmed memberships.

“People in power want to make things complicated for the political parties so that the number of their members will be reduced. However, there will be no impact on the party’s support base,” he said.

Earlier, the Chart Thai Pattana Party voiced concern after barely more than 10 per cent of its members reaffirmed their membership during the permitted period, which ended on Monday.

Nikorn Chamnong, the party director, said Chart Thai Pattana was dissatisfied that only 2,500 out of its 24,710 registered members had confirmed their status. He said the small number of confirmed memberships would adversely affect the party’s primary voting to select its candidates for the general election.

The veteran politician called on authorities to review the requirement for primary voting and postpone its enforcement until after the next general election, warning that otherwise all political parties “would be in trouble” and that the entire party system would be affected.

Meanwhile, the Chart Pattana Party disclosed that almost one-third of its members had come to confirm their membership as of Monday. Party leader Wannarat Charnnukul said that 5,583 out of its 18,163 registered members – or 30.7 per cent – had reaffirmed membership, which he described as “satisfactory”.