Former academic Suchatvee eyes Democrat Party leader post

Thailand’s oldest political party will hold a general assembly on July 9 and one of the agenda items is the vote for a new leader as well as for a new batch of party executives.

Caretaker Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit stepped down as Democrat leader after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in the May 14 election. The party won 25 seats – 22 constituency and 3 party-list seats – in the May 14 election, compared to 53 in the 2019 poll.

Other candidates who are also reportedly interested in or have been nominated for the leadership position include former Prime Minister and party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, former deputy leader Alongkorn Ponlaboot, and former deputy leader Dech-it Khaothong.

Abhisit is being backed by Democrat members in Northeastern provinces, who met on Tuesday and declared their support for the ex-PM to take the position again.

According to the statement of the 48 Democrat Branches of the Northeast, the group believes that Abhisit would restore people’s faith and confidence in the party as well as in the democratic regime under the monarch.

Suchatvee, meanwhile, lacks two qualifications of a party leader: Being an MP and having been a member for more than 5 years, said the source.

However, this can be overruled if he were to receive more than three-quarters of the votes from party executives, the source added.

Suchatvee was a former rector of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang and has several years of experience working in higher education. He is also well known for working closely with the new generation and led the party’s modern education team.

Suchatvee ran in the 2022 Bangkok gubernatorial election under the Democrat’s banner and came in second with 254,723 votes, narrowly beating Move Forward Party’s Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn. Independent candidate Chadchart Sittipunt won by a landslide at 1.38 million votes.