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SCMP Reporter

What a difference a year makes.

 As opposition leader General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh this week completes a shake-up of his New Aspiration Party (NAP) in preparation for elections, his stated desire to return to power has yet to bring the howls of derision with which it would have been greeted 12 months ago.

 A string of commentators and columnists have suggested with uncharacteristic sobriety that successful internal surgery to the party - albeit one which may see his deputy, Snoh Thienthong, and a third of NAP MPs defect to a new party - could improve General Chavalit's chances at the polls.

 Headlines reading 'I'll be back, says Chavalit' would a year ago have been enough to spark a constitutional crisis.

 Yesterday they brought little comment from the political elite. The stock market and currency exchanges, once a daily barometer of General Chavalit's unpopularity, were unmoved, perhaps quietly confident it could somehow never be allowed to happen.

 Not everyone is so sure.

 Veteran commentator Veera Prateepchaikul wrote: 'The question is whether he has the luxury of time and the patience to wait for another chance at the premiership.

 'With the Democrats' popularity on the wane, the New Aspiration Party stands a good chance of coming first in the next election.'  Chavalit insiders insist such sentiment is not merely a manifestation of the media's famous fickleness, but rather the result of a careful strategy to lie low in opposition and let the pressures of power work against the Democrats.

 'Never count him out . . . he always has a plan,' one NAP source said.

 General Chavalit, now 67, left power in 1997 amid unprecedented public criticism as Thailand slumped into its worst recession in 50 years.

 While he still inspires considerable hatred among the hard-hit middle classes of Bangkok, analysts believe he has kept his strategic power base in the rural northeast largely intact.



Chavalit back from political wasteland