Democrats in Bangkok call for expulsion of 16 party MPs who voted for Srettha

The Bangkok members submitted their demand to caretaker Democrat leader Jurin Laksanawisit, asking him to convene the party’s board meeting to expel the 16 MPs for allegedly violating the party’s resolution on the PM vote.

Sixteen out of 25 Democrat MPs voted for Srettha on August 22, reportedly defying the party’s decision the previous day to abstain during the vote for PM.

After Democrat MP Sathit Pitutecha called on the party to expel the 16 renegade MPs, Det-it Khaothong, a caretaker deputy party leader, held a press conference with 15 other MPs and asked who would expel whom.

Det-it explained that expulsion of an MP would require three-fourths of votes from MPs and party executives. He said his group of MPs also held most positions on the executive board.

Det-it also claimed that during the meeting on August 21, the MPs did not reach any firm resolution and Jurin simply said the Democrat MPs should know how the party should vote.

Det-it’s faction is known to be loyal to caretaker secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on, who reportedly wanted the party to join the Pheu Thai-led coalition so that he could have a Cabinet seat. Chalermchai did not contest the May 14 election.

The group of Bangkok members said the party should take action by expelling the 16 MPs from the party so that the party could end an impasse in the party’s internal election due to the tug-of-war between Chalermchai’s faction and the other faction that supports former Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The Bangkok members acknowledged that expelling the MPs could be a major setback to the party, as the 16 Democrats would not lose their MP status and they could join another party in the Pheu Thai-led coalition. But they argued that he remaining nine MPs could help amend thge party’s charter to hold internal elections.

The elections became necessary after Jurin resigned as leader, taking responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the May 14 election.

But the election has been deferred twice due to lack of quorum.

The party’s non-MP voters staged a walkout after MPs loyal to Chalermchai refused to amend the party’s charter giving equal weightage to members’ and MP’ votes. Currently MPs enjoy a 70:30 weightage over other members.

The Bangkok members argued that once the 16 MPs are expelled from the party, the election rule could be amended and it would bode well for the Democrats.

They said the Democrat Party would be able to regain its popularity by playing a responsible role as the opposition party.

The Bangkok members added that they believe the Democrat would be able to join hands with the Move Forward Party to forge a strong opposition.