It is now clear where the New Economics Party (NEP) stands in the House of Representatives. The party has pulled out of the opposition bloc and re-positioned itself an independent opposition party without ruling out the possibility of joining the government camp.
The move ends months of confusion about the party's stance. After the general election last year, the NEP, then led by Mingkwan Sangsuwan, aligned itself with the opposition side, but after a change of party leadership it often voted against the bloc's line.
The NEP's decision has left its former leader and list-MP Mingkwan out in the cold. The NEP did not expel Mr Mingkwan, who has reiterated his alliance with the opposition bloc led by the Pheu Thai Party. He cannot simply cut ties with the party or he will lose his MP status.
"I will no longer do work with people who I don't know well enough," said Mr Mingkwan told the Bangkok Post after the NEP, with six list MP seats including Mr Mingkwan, announced its withdrawal just as the opposition is gearing up for the censure debate in parliament.
He said he joined the NEP after being approached by a group of the party founders who wanted to launch an economics-oriented party. He also named the party and volunteered to draft the policy platform. Mr Mingkwan was a well-known figure in corporate circles and worked with Toyota (Thailand) before he entered the government sector taking the top position at the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT).
Dubbed by some as marketing man, he was credited with the state-run organisation's success in the rebranding of the broadcaster which was transformed into Modern 9 TV as it is still known today. "I drew up the party's economic policy platform. I also spoke to people of several generations and with my knowledge of media platforms and my innovative thinking, I appealed to young voters. Some people said the NEP made history as a party that won almost half a million votes in the last two weeks of the election campaign," he said.
However, Mr Mingkwan said the party won fewer seats than expected, six out of 25 seats contested, partly because he did not take part in the candidate selection process and the party did not field candidates in every constituency.
Mr Mingkwan stepped in as the party leader and was named as the party's prime ministerial candidate, but the NEP already had an executive board running the show. With just six seats, far fewer than the 25 required for a party to nominate a PM candidate to the House for a vote, the NEP became part of the opposition.
"When most of the party can't deal with the fact we are part of the opposition and vote against the bloc's stance and leave me out of the loop, I can't join them," he said, referring to his announcement.
He said the situation makes him feel bad but he is proud the party's policy platform was embraced by the public. "I won't rush into political work like this. I did not have enough time to prepare and I didn't know them well enough."
He said he tried to reason with the party's MPs as to why they should not vote for the Prayut administration and one of the reasons is that the present administration is incapable of steering the country out of its economic troubles. Mr Mingkwan has requested two hours to grill the government on its handling of the economy, and another two hours to wrap up the censure debate on Feb 24-26, on behalf of the opposition.
