Dilemma for Thaksin as 111 Club lines up to join Pheu Thai Party
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To join, ex-PM would have to return to Kingdom, triggering arrest, disqualification from party membership
With their five-year ban expiring at the end of this month, dozens of former Thai Rak Thai Party executives from the so-called 111 Club are lining up to be members of the ruling Pheu Thai party next week.
Pheu Thai spokesman Prom-pong Nopparit said some 40 politicians had already contacted Pheu Thai and its executives, expressing their wish to apply for membership on May 31.
More will do the same in the future, the spokesman claimed.
“Pheu Thai is happy that the 111 Club members are willing to join with us in our political work. Their joining will certainly strengthen the party and help it to finish its term of four years,” he said.
“We welcome all of them and are sure that there will be no conflict between Pheu Thai MPs and ministers,” he added.
Responding to reports that fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, founder of Thai Rak Thai, may want to apply for membership, Prompong said he was not aware of the reports but welcomed him anyway.
The club’s members include Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, Chaturon Chaisaeng, Pongthep Thepkanchana, Chidchai Wannasa-thit, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, Bhokin Palakula, Warathep Ratana-korn, Adisorn Piangket, Virakarn Musikapong and Phumtham Wetchayachai.
Prime Minster Yingluck Shina-watra said yesterday there would be opportunities for members of the so-called 111 Club to join the government but ruled out a cabinet reshuffle in the near future.
The five-year ban on the former Thai Rak Thai Party executives of the club will end at the end of this month.
Speaking on her arrival in Bangkok after an official visit to Qatar and Bahrain, Yingluck said her government would not close the door for club members to join the government.
“They are capable and qualified persons who are more than welcome to join our work. However, [much] will depend on the timing,” she said.
“Inviting them to work in the government will depend on their qualifications and certainly their wishes,” she said.
When asked whether there would be a cabinet reshuffle to allow club members to join the government, Yingluck reiterated it depended on the timing.
Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will face an insurmountable dilemma if he applies for Pheu Thai Party membership – as a fugitive he has to apply in person for membership and risk being arrested. That, in turn, would automatically disqualify his membership.
As his five-year political ban is due to expire on May 30, speculation has spread that Thaksin is planning to become a full-fledged member of the ruling party.
Expiry of the ban means Thaksin is once again an eligible voter who can resume his political activities – but not necessarily as a party member.
Election Commission member Prapun Naigowit said under the political party laws, a fugitive like Thaksin can apply for party membership because he is not actually serving his two-year prison sentence.
Under relevant provisions, only an inmate or detainee held in a prison cell is barred from being a party member. Thaksin fled his imprisonment to live abroad.
Prapun said the catch for Thaksin was that a party member was obliged to lodge his party membership application in person.
If Thaksin turns up at the party headquarters, the authorities must arrest him in order to enforce his jail sentence. Should he be taken into custody, he would lose his party membership.
Legal pundits said in order to overcome the dilemma, the ruling party might have to amend its charter authorising the acceptance of membership applications abroad. But this might lead to litigation over Pheu Thai’s compliance with the political parties law.
