June 23, 2023
BANGKOK – If the Democrat Party expects to survive the next election it needs a new leader who can completely transform it, the party’s acting deputy leader, Det-it Khaothong, said on Thursday.
The party needs to be led by a young leader with fresh ideas, Det-it told reporters after arriving to work at the House of Representatives.
“Everything has changed,” he said, adding that the party’s members need to consider a change at the “360-degree level”.
Following the party’s humiliating loss in the May 14 election, Democrat leader Jurin Laksanawisit resigned, paving the way for a new leader and executive board to be elected.
The Democrats, Thailand’s oldest party, are scheduled to elect new leadership on July 9.
They elected 25 MPs – 22 constituency MPs and three party-list MPs – in the May 14 election, down from 53 in the 2019 election.
MPs are holding informal talks about new leadership but have not reached a conclusion, Det-it said, adding that the MPs had yet to talk with senior party members about new leadership.
The party has several members who are more capable and better qualified than him to take the helm, he said.
Det-it declined to confirm whether he would be elected as the new party secretary-general, saying the post had not yet been discussed among the party’s senior members.