Pheu Thai heavyweights confident of landslide victory in May election

Srettha Thavisin, a property tycoon-turned-politician who is one of the party’s three prime ministerial candidates, said that Pheu Thai was confident its policy platforms would lead to a landslide election victory, allowing Pheu Thai to form a single-party government.

He refused to answer media questions as to whether Pheu Thai, an opposition party, would form a coalition government with the ruling Palang Pracharath Party after the election.
“Pheu Thai has maintained that we have to wait for the election results,” he said.

Srettha also said that over the past eight years, people have suffered severely and there was no excuse for them to seek more time in power to solve the country’s problems. “People have given you a lot of time already,” he said.

He did not take any names, but was apparently referring to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who has served for more than eight years as prime minister since leading a military coup in May 2014.

Meanwhile, Suriya Juangroongruangkit, a Pheu Thai party-list MP candidate, said on Saturday that the party was confident it would win as many as 250 MP seats in the upcoming election. He cited results of recent opinion surveys that found Pheu Thai to be the front-runner in the run-up to the election.

But he declined to comment on Pheu Thai’s possible allies in forming the next government.

The House of Representatives has 500 MP seats – 400 elected from constituencies and 100 from the party-list system.

Suriya, who served as industry minister in Prayut’s government, left the ruling party in March to join Pheu Thai.

In a related development, Srettha said Pheu Thai had no concerns about the warning issued by the Election Commission regarding election campaigning during the Songkran festival. He said the party’s legal team had advised its election candidates about what can be done and cannot be done.

“Also, Pheu Thai has no intention of taking advantage of important festivals in order to attract voter support,” he said.

Regarding the widespread criticism of the six election commissioners making overseas visits just a month before the election, Srettha said on Saturday that he believed the commissioners have a good understanding about their duties and are well aware of their responsibilities to society.

“Critics should be fair to them and not just focus on the fact that they travelled overseas,” he said.