The government has been trying to block political parties from getting financial support from their financial sponsors, said Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday (April 27).
“I confirm that there are talks about an attempt by the government to prevent financial supporters to fund political parties. Someone in the government told me about this,” Mr Abhisit told the media.
He, however, declined to comment on a claim by a former Democrat party list MP Watchara Phetthong that there was an attempt to mobilize fund as much as 40 billion baht to fund the establishment of a party to support the junta to stay on in the form of a new government after the next election.
Regarding the allegation that the government has been trying to “suck” former MPs into its political fold, Mr Abhisit said that the alleged move by the government was being watched by members of the public who wonder whether this move constitutes misuse of power by the government.
But as far as the Democrat party is concerned, the Democrat party leader said that he believed that only a few former Democrat MPs would quit to join the junta. He, nevertheless, added that there are always new-blood politicians joining the party.
Concerning the deadline for reconfirmation of party memberships of old members which is due to expire at the end of this month, he disclosed that only a few tens of thousands out of a total of previously 2.5 million memberships reconfirmed their memberships during the one-month period.
This shows that publicity campaign for old party members to reconfirm their memberships does not work, said Mr Abhisit, adding that the party had collected information about this matter for submission to the Constitutional Court to prove that the NCPO Order 53/2560 seeking amendments to Political Party Act is illegitimate and constitutes a violation of the rights of party members.
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