Party leader Julapun Amornvivat said yesterday (Dec 16) that Pheu Thai will propose Yodchanan Wongsawat as its first choice for prime minister if the party wins the Feb 8 polls.
There will be two other candidates also on the list: Mr Julapun himself and veteran politician Suriya Juangroongruangkit, reports the Bangkok Post.
“From internal party discussions it is clear that the most suitable person to propose for prime minister for the Pheu Thai Party is Mr Yodchanan,” Mr Julapun said at a media briefing after the official introduction of the three candidates.
The party leader praised Mr Yodchanan for his leadership ability and knowledge of new technologies needed in running the country if Pheu Thai is returned to government.
Pheu Thai is struggling to redeem itself after falling from grace over the controversial phone conversation between then-prime minister and Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodian senate president Hun Sen in June, after the outbreak of border hostilities.
Mr Yodchanan, 46, has been with Thaksin since he founded the original Thai Rak Thai Party, since dissolved and subsequently reformed under several names, the latest being Pheu Thai. He is a son of former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and Yaowapha, Thaksin’s sister.
The youngest candidate of the three, he has a background in engineering with expertise in technology.
As for the other two candidates, Mr Julapun, 50, is a former deputy finance minister with experience in economic management, and Mr Suriya, 71, has served in several ministerial positions, but mainly at the Transport Ministry, and is currently in charge of the party’s preparations for the coming general election.
Mr Yodchanan said he will bring voters back to Pheu Thai as they get to know him better, and how he can best serve them, during election campaigning.
At the press conference, Mr Yodchanan was centre-stage, flanked by Mr Julapun and Mr Suriya. “His position here (on stage) speaks for itself,” the party leader said.
Pheu Thai said in a statement posted later on social media that its three candidates were the answer to the problems facing the country.
“The profiles of the three prime ministerial candidates of the Pheu Thai Party comprehensively answer all challenges for the country to ‘step forward’ for ‘the reengineering of Thailand’,”’ the party said in a Facebook post.
During the presentation, Mr Yodchanan credited Thaksin with leading Thailand onto the global stage. He vowed to follow in his footsteps, to restore the party.
Thaksin, 76, is currently serving a one-year sentence in the “14th floor hospital case”. The former premier and billionaire was sent back to prison on Sept 9 on the order of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, which ruled that the time he spent in the Police General Hospital did not count as part of his incarceration. The court then ordered him to serve one year in prison, in line with the commuted term of his original sentence.