Rising from the dead: Shinawatras’ Pheu Thai Party registers members for 2019 elections
The ruling junta, having promised polls for February next year, is now allowing new and old parties to register their members, with a minimum of 500 needed to sign up in 30 days to qualify
The Thai political group that has won every national election since 2001, only to be forced out of power repeatedly by non-electoral means, has taken an initial step on a comeback trail, registering its members to contest polls promised for early next year.
The Pheu Thai Party last held power in 2014, when an army coup ousted it and installed a military government that until last month banned almost all organised political party activity.
The ruling junta, having promised an election for February next year, is now allowing new and old parties to register their members, with a minimum of 500 needed to sign up in 30 days to qualify.
Pheu Thai members, representing the legacy of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party’s guiding light, signed up this week at its headquarters. Former lawmakers and senior figures, as well as ordinary supporters, came to help get the party back on its feet.
It has been overthrown twice under different names by the military, and twice was dissolved by the courts. But judging by the enthusiastic reception for former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat as he entered the headquarters, Pheu Thai members are eager to rejoin the fray.