‘Madame Dear’ boycotts new Democrat executives
Watanya Bunnag announced her boycott of the Democrat Party’s new executive board today (Thursday) but will retain a party membership — at least for now.
The 39-year-old politician, who joined the now-opposition party last year, said she would not participate in any activities driven by the new executive board and would end all her party roles.
“I will still be a Democrat Party member, working for the benefit of the general public. But I will not join any party activities involving the current executive board,” said Watanya, who heads the Democrat Party’s working group on political innovation.
Last Saturday (December 9), the Democrats elected a new leader and other executives at a general party meeting. Chalermchai Srion, the acting party leader and secretary-general, was elected uncontested as the new Democrat chief.
Watanya, who announced her intention to contest for the top seat, failed to get the minimum 75% of votes required to waive the rule that a leadership candidate must have been a party member for at least five years.
She reiterated on Thursday that the election of the ninth Democrat leader last Saturday was marred by unfair practices aimed at excluding her from the competition. She claimed that the person who reportedly sent a chat message lobbying against her had become one of the new party executives.
Also known as “Madame Dear”, Watanya is the wife of Nation Group CEO Shine Bunnag.
She today (Thursday) said she had decided not to leave the party at the moment because she was waiting to see the new executive board’s performance. “The new executive board deserves fair treatment although I have no faith in them and disagree with the way they run the party. I won’t rush my decision. I will be patient and continue with my political work,” she said.
Watanya added that if the new executive board leads the Democrats to join the Pheu Thai-led government, she will consider whether to remain with the party.
“Not only me, but also other Democrats, will reconsider their party membership. I believe long-time party supporters would follow suit. They have faith in the Democrats that firmly adhere to the original ideology and standpoint, with no desire for power or personal gains,” she said.
