Thailand’s Yellow Shirts Form Political Party
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the Thai pressure group which was instrumental in bringing down previous pro-Thaksin governments, has formally entered the political arena and become a bona-fide political party. The new group are known in Thai as Karn Muang Mai which translates as the New Politics Party (NPP). The supporters of PAD had become known as the yellow-shirts, but the New Politics Party will now be using yellow and green as their colours; yellow for the monarchy and green for a fresh and clean approach to politics. They say they will be standing for justice and anti-corruption. The New Politics Party was officially registered at 09.09 this morning, a time chosen because in Thailand the number 9 is considered to be lucky. As with many things in Thailand - including politics - superstition and old beliefs are still important.
The current Thai government is an unsteady coalition headed by prime minister Abhisist Vejjajiva from the Democrat Party. Although the Democrats were originally viewed by the yellow shirts as the preferable alternative to the pro-Thaksin groups, the formation of this new political party shows that the former PAD leadership are still not happy with the way Thailand is being run. When new elections take place in Thailand, possibly next year, the New Politics Party could pick up votes at the expense of the Democrat Party. Meanwhile, the red shirts still remain a political force and fresh protests against Abhisit and his government are planned for the end of this month. In a separate issue, the government also faces the threat of more protests from farmers in a dispute over rice crops.
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