People Power Party Samak Sundaravej (2nd left) holds hands with coalition partners Uraiwan Thienthong (L) of the Pracharaj Party, Pradit Pattaraprasit (2nd right), of the Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana Party, and Anongwan Thepsuthin (R) of Matchaima Thipataya Party during a conference in Bangkok, 31 December 2007.
People Power Party (PPP) leader Samak Sundaravej speaks during a news conference in Bangkok December 31,2007. PPP, which won 233 of 480 parliamentary seats in the December 23 election, said its tentative four-party coalition controlled about 254 seats in the lower House of Representatives. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
BANGKOK, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Samak Sundaravej, leader of the People Power Party (PPP), which won Thailand's post-coup general election, officially announced Monday that three other parties have agreed to join a PPP-led coalition government, which will together garner 254 out of the 480 seats in the House of Representatives.
At a press conference Monday afternoon at a Bangkok hotel, Samak said that the Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana (Thais United National Development) Party, winning nine seats, Matchima Thipataya (Neutral Democratic) Party with seven seats and Pracharaj (Royal People) Party with five seats, have agreed to join the PPP to form a coalition government.
The PPP, seen in Thailand as a nominee party for the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won 233 parliament seats in the Dec. 23 general election, the first one after Thailand experienced a military coup that ousted former elected government led by Thaksin in September 2006.
Also present at the press conference were PPP secretary-generalSurapong Suebwoglee, Ruam Jai Thai Chart Patana secretary-general Pradit Phattaraprasit, Machima Thipataya secretary-general Anongwan Thepsutin, and Uraiwan Thienthong, the wife of Pracharaj leader Snoh Thienthong.
The representatives of the three other parties said they were honored to have been invited by the PPP to join the coalition government, and they decided to accept the invitation because the PPP has won the support of a majority of people in the Dec. 23 election.
Samak said the press conference was held ahead of the previously scheduled date of Jan. 4, because there were attempts to prevent the PPP from forming the coalition.
Samak emphasized that the coalition of the PPP and the three other parities is still holding 254 MP seats, as the party was not convinced by the recent decisions of the Election Commission (EC) to issue "yellow cards" and "red cards" to disqualify some winning PPP MP candidates in the election on electoral fraud allegation.
The yellow and red cards are punishment instruments used by the EC to invalidate the MP seats won by candidates alleged of electoral fraud or misconduct. Candidates who get a yellow card can still run for the seat in a by-election, while those red-carded is banned from running again in one year.
The EC earlier announced decisions to issue three yellow cards and three red cards to six winning PPP candidates. The PPP has protested, calling the decisions unfair and vowing to appeal.
Samak said there was a "hand behind the scene" trying to influence the EC and the election outcome.
When asked about the entry of the other two parties, the Chart Thai (Thai Nation) Party (37 seats) and Puea Pandin (For the motherland) Party (25 seats), Samak said the door (towards a PPP-led coalition) will remain open for other parties.
The PPP will hold a second press conference to announce the final formation of new government next Wednesday, Jan. 2.
Earlier on Monday, Chart Thai Party leader Banharn Silapaarcha confirmed that his party would join the PPP-led coalition government.
He said Chart Thai and Puea Pandin, which have earlier announced an alliance, would on Wednesday announce the two-party alliance's acceptance of the PPP's invitation to join the coalition.
The PPP's major rival, the Democrat Party, which got 165 seats in the election, has rejected to join a PPP-led coalition government. A formation of the coalition of six-parties led by the PPP will leave the Democrat alone as the sole opposition party in the parliament.
Editor: Song Shutao
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