So who were the real winners?

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

11 July 2011

 

 

The real winners? It was clearly not the Pheu Thai Party. It's not that wrong to say that Pheu Thai came up a bit short of its expectations. With Yingluck Shinawatra as the selling point, the party believed that the 300 mark in the poll was not beyond its reach as its internal poll indicated that the momentum was on its side and the Democrat Party's popularity was waning.

 

But as the turnout of the results showed, Pheu Thai managed to get only 265 out of 500 seats in parliament. A win is a win but winning it big was what Thaksin Shinawatra expected. But the results provided a brutal punishment for the Democrats and anti-Thaksin clans. They haven't fully recovered from their political hangover on July 3.

 

Thaksin might be the master of political campaigns judging from the way he decided to go for his youngest sister, political platforms and tactics to tame Newin Chidchob and his Bhumjaithai Party. But the Dubai-based political conductor is still second to Chuvit Kamolvisit and Sonthaya Khunpluem as far as the performance is concerned.

 

Chuvit humbly asked voters to give his Rak Thailand Party a seat. Of course, the plea was for him to be an opposition MP in parliament as he wished. But voters were very generous, giving four seats to the former massage parlour owner. Simply said, it was a 400% jump from his initial projection.

 

The Chuvit phenomenon isn't a surprise. He knew that his character and skills on stage were a plus to lure voters to take a look at his party on July 3. What made him even more popular was his clear position to be the one ready to scrutinise a new government from the opposition bench.

 

[color:red]Unlike Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is a gentleman in politics, Mr Chuvit's image is not so much a good guy given what he had done before turning to politics. And many voters believed that this type of man might be the one the opposition needs to grill the government. For them, politics is dirty and only the Chuvit type of lawmakers know how to clean it up or at least prevent it from getting worse.[/color]

 

Days after savouring election success, Mr Chuvit set the direction for him to work on, while the Democrats, his opposition partner, hoped that Mr Abhisit would reconsider the party's call for a return to guide the party. He followed that with the launch of the book - Politics, Dog Style - yesterday. Everything has been well planned.

 

It won't be another shock if Mr Chuvit steals the limelight from the Democrats as an opposition MP people watch most. He knows how to put himself in the news and when to attack the government. Voters give him a chance to prove and he might not get a second one if he doesn't live up to expectations.

 

On the opposite end of parliament, Mr Sonthaya of Phalang Chon set an example of wise political investment. As the name of the party suggests, Phalang Chon looks very local. The name fits in well with local elections for provincial or tambon administration organisation contests rather than national polls.

 

But Phalang Chon used local votes - voters in Chon Buri to be specific - to power the party to parliament and, more importantly, to the administrative bloc. It sent few candidates but aimed for the maximum return. Phalang Chon got six out of eight seats competing in the province and another one from a party list candidate.

 

Seven voices are more than enough for the party to join Pheu Thai who wanted its support in parliament to reach around 300 votes.

 

Phalang Chon also has sent a clear message to Ms Yingluck on what it wants. It eyes the Tourism and Sports Ministry and at least one deputy ministerial position.

 

The ministry is under the control of Chartthaipattana now but with nothing to be impressed about, Ms Yingluck is highly likely to take it from Banharn Silpa-archa and give it to Phalang Chon.

 

The party is so confident in the demand that Mr Sonthaya was on TV last week talking about how to bolster the sector as if he were minister.

 

 

 

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