Prayut party member blasts Thanathorn for calling Thai politics undemocratic

Suchart Chomklin, member of UTNP’s policy and strategy committee, made the comment a day after he argued with Move Forward Party’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit in a political debate hosted by the Nation Group.

The debate, titled “Road to the Future”, was held at Pattaya City Hall on Saturday.

When asked why every citizen should exercise their voting right in the May 14 election, Thanathorn said Thailand should be driven by democracy as that is the only way it will pull out of conflicts.

“Coups should not exist in Thailand,” he said, adding that the country is not following democratic principles as some politicians are serving dictators.

Thanathorn added that a career in politics is honourable as politicians are elected by the people. Similarly, politicians should respect the people and democracy.

On Sunday, Suchart told the press that Thanathorn’s comments were offensive, saying the incumbent government was elected in 2019.

He added that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha was elected with 253 votes from MPs and senators.

“Thanathorn should not enter politics if he believes Thai politics is undemocratic and politicians do not serve the people,” he said.

He said politicians’ duty is to serve the people regardless of whether their political party is part of the government coalition or the opposition. After all, he said, all politicians are elected by the people.

“Thanathorn’s discourse may trigger conflicts in society,” he said.

He added that politicians have the freedom to share their political party’s visions to win voters over, but they should not blame Thai politics.

“Suppose somebody blames your school for the state of education, would you be able to accept it?” he asked, adding that nobody will want to enter politics if politicians just blame one another.

Suchart said he was not worried if this argument affected UTNP’s popularity. “I don’t care, because I want to protect Thai politics,” he said.