Suwat Stays Humbly Tuned To Coalition Bids

Suwat Liptapallop has looked set to never miss out on any bid to set up a coalition government in which his Chat Pattana Puea Pandin Party might possibly get involved.    The de facto head of the splinter party said over the weekend he has remained ‘ever-attentive’ to hush-hush moves primarily aimed to bring any splinter party, such as his own, into a coalition of which a major party might act as a core, following Jul 3’s nationwide election. Given the ‘only-friend-and-no-foe’ posture of the Chat Pattana Puea Pandin Party, the ex-deputy premier said, his camp might be found ‘interesting’ a partner in a post-election coalition which either one of the polarized camps, namely the Puea Thai Party and the Democrat Party, might set up.    ‘We’re a small-sized party but we'll stay watchful and not miss out on chances (of setting up a coalition government). The Chat Pattana Party has been only friend and no foe to others. We’ve never brought up troubles to anyone. Given a chance to join (a coalition), we could virtually be seen a bunch of decorative flowers,’’ said Mr Suwat.    His comments followed those earlier made by former premier/de facto Chat Thai Pattana Party leader Banharn Silpa-acha who compared his own splinter party to ‘ferns that decorate a vase of flowers.’    Mr Suwat commented the splinter parties will remain ‘pivotal’ a partner for a coalition government with either one of the major camps acting as its core because, he said, none will eventually secure a vast majority of MP seats in the nationwide polls. ‘It would be so difficult for any major party to win a decisive majority of MP seats,’ he said.    According to the de facto Chat Pattana Puea Pandin leader, several splinter parties would likely steal a combined 100 MP seats, leaving an essential 400 others to the major ones - the Puea Thai Party and the Democrat Party. Those small-sized camps include the Bhum Jai Thai Party, de facto headed by Newin Chidchob, the Chat Thai Pattana Party, de facto headed by Mr Banharn, and his own, among others.    Mr Suwat forecast either the Puea Thai Party or the Democrat Party might possibly win as many as 250 and as few as 150 out of a sum of 500 MP seats up for grabs in the nationwide contests. Of that total, 375 MPs will be elected in constituency-based fashion and 125 others in party-listed mode. He declined to say exactly which one of the big parties might possibly win that many or that few, however.    ‘In the big picture, small parties cannot compete against big parties, given their gigantic electoral campaigns. The longer the campaigns the more popular the big parties get. The small parties are only fighting to keep their old fortresses from being seized by the big ones. And there’re not many of them left now,’’ he said, apparently referring to the Chat Pattana Puea Pandin Party’s strongholds throughout the northeastern constituencies of Nakorn Ratchasima.    Mr Banharn’s party has firmly secured west-central constituencies of Supanburi and nearby ‘satellite’ provinces while Mr Newin’s camp has maintained popular support in northeastern constituencies of Buriram.      Produced by VoiceTV