Political veteran Sita walks out on opposition Thai Sang Thai Party
Veteran politician Sita Divari has quit the opposition Thai Sang Thai Party as of October 27, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday.
Sita, who had been a spokesperson for the Thaksin Shinawatra government from 2002 to 2003, failed to win a seat in this year’s election.
The politician, who had been elected as Bangkok MP twice under the Thai Rak Thai banner in the 2001 and 2005 elections, had been banned from politics for five years in 2007. He was Thai Rak Thai executive at the time the party was dissolved.
He then returned to the political arena by serving as secretary-general of the Thai Sang Thai Party, which was led by Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan. He left the party post to Thakorn Tantasit in March this year.
Despite the presence of Sudarat and Sita, once political stars of Bangkok, Thai Sang Thai did not fare too well in the May 14 election. The party only managed to grab six seats in the House of Representatives – five constituency MPs and one party-list MP.
Sita was ranked fifth in the party’s list of MP candidates, so did not win. The sole party-list seat was won by Sudarat, who later quit the House and handed her seat to Thakorn.
Thai Sang Thai Party was formed with plans to be made into a coalition partner of the Move Forward Party. However, it was left on the cold opposition bench when Pheu Thai put together a coalition government.
