Chuan believes likely election winners already offered money to vote for next PM

Chuan Leekpai, a former Democrat Party leader, said on Monday that a party seeking to lead the next coalition had already approached Democrat candidates with a strong chance of being elected, offering them money to vote for its prime ministerial candidate.

However, Chuan said he did not know which party or which prime ministerial candidate was involved.

Chuan said Nipit Intharasombat, a former Democrat MP, had told him he had received such an offer, but did not know who it came from.

Chuan added that attempts to buy the support of likely election winners in advance were less worrying than what he described as intensifying vote buying taking place now.

He said one party appeared to be paying little attention to campaigning because it had already spent money to buy votes.

“Vote buying is intensifying, and I am trying to encourage voters to reject the money,” Chuan said.

He said he had warned voters that if they sold their votes, the vote buyers could form the next government and engage in massive corruption to recoup their spending and raise funds to buy votes again at the next poll—creating a vicious circle.

Chuan said it was alarming that vote buyers could be elected and form the next government, which he warned would cause problems for the public through corruption.

“But if we get clean politicians to run the country, every baht of the budget will not be siphoned off,” he said.

“If we get politicians with vested interests and business ties to run the country, we’ll be in trouble. People’s tax money will not fully reach the people. So we must try to prevent these politicians from taking office.”

Chuan was speaking to reporters while helping Democrat candidate for Bangkok’s Constituency 6, Siripha Innthawichian, campaign at 3pm on Soi Na Thong and Soi Ratchadaphisek 7.

Many local residents hugged Chuan, asked to take photos with him, and said he was still handsome.