FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

New rules ‘worry’ former members of established parties

New rules ‘worry’ former members of established parties

The current political party law has damaged the existing parties’ membership bases and the country’s efforts to restore democracy, according to Nikorn Chamnong, director of Chat Thai Pattana Party.

Chat Thai Pattana expects fewer than 10 per cent of its previous 24,000-strong members to re-register as members under the current law, which Nikorn said is not designed to promote the country’s political development via stronger political parties.
He said his party had responses from only 1,000 members wanting to re-register as members under the new law after the party had sent registered mail to more than 24,000 members. The deadline for membership re-registration is tomorrow.
Nikorn said the law requires members of existing parties to re-register their membership by paying a membership fee. “Many old members are worried about the new rules and have opted not to re-register their membership at this stage,” he said, adding that other parties had faced the same problem since the law was aimed at reducing the role and influence of existing parties in the next election.
Overall, Nikorn said, only 400,000 out of the four million members of the established political parties were expected to re-register their membership, resulting in a complete shake-up of the political party system.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha suggested that there was nothing wrong about the government’s and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)’s attempts to attract influential figures to join its bid for the next election.
The government’s duty was to hold the next election to return the country to its democratic path, so every party concerned should work together to achieve the objective, he said. He noted that bringing in former politicians to join the government’s mission for the next election was not unusual and voters would have the final say on who get their votes.
Several former political groups have publicly expressed their interest in fielding candidates for the next poll under several political banners in the hope of supporting Prayut’s return as prime minister.
 

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