Former Thai ruling party meets as power struggle erupts

A fierce struggle has erupted to fill the void left after a court last week dissolved the ruling People Power Party (PPP) for electoral fraud and removed prime minister Somchai Wongsawat from office.

Members of the PPP have regrouped under a new name, Puea Thai (For Thais), although they maintain their controversial loyalty to Thaksin Shinawatra, the exiled former premier who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

But royalist anti-government protesters who abandoned a siege of Bangkok's airports after the fall of the PPP have threatened to hold further demonstrations if the new government is too close to Thaksin.

Four small parties that had formed a coalition with Thaksin's allies after elections in December announced on Saturday that they had defected to the opposition Democrat Party to resolve the crisis.

"Political wrangling now is just starting," said Somchai Phetprasert, a parliamentarian with Puea Thai as the party met in Bangkok to shore up support for its efforts to form a government.

"Parties are seeking support. Puea Thai party still sticks together. Most of MPs will be with Puea Thai. (The opposition) announcement was not clear -- the political direction will be clearer in next couple of days."

The party's first task will be to lure back a faction that says it wants to join the Democrats.

Former premier Somchai, meanwhile, was quoted in the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper as saying: "What happened is just the first round. Boxing has 12 rounds. There are many more rounds to go."

The Democrat Party say it wants to restore stability in Thailand after six months of disruptive protests by a group which accused the PPP of running Thailand on behalf of Thaksin, who lives abroad.

Protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) reached a peak late last month when they shut down Bangkok's airports for over a week. Tens of thousands of tourists remain stranded as airlines clear the backlog.

Thaksin was despised by PAD supporters in the old elite -- which includes elements in the palace, military and bureaucracy -- who felt that his popularity with poor, rural voters usurped some of their power.

He has only returned briefly to Thailand after his ouster in 2006, and is now living abroad after being convicted in absentia in October to two years in jail for violating the kingdom's corruption laws.

Thaksin has, however, has become increasingly vocal in the past month and has vowed to return to politics in his homeland.

His powerful ex-wife Pojaman flew into Bangkok late Friday, in a sign that Puea Thai's efforts to form a coalition were running into trouble.

The Democrat Party won 165 seats in elections almost a year ago and the former PPP has 212, although 37 of those are from a faction that could defect in part or whole.

The coalition parties have more than 60 seats in the 448-seat House of Representatives between them.

If the Democrat Party manages to pull together a coalition, it could bring to power the party's leader, Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is 44.

The intense political horse-trading also comes amid fears for the health of Thailand's deeply-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The 81-year-old monarch pulled out of his annual birthday address last week due to illness, ending hopes that he might offer guidance on a way out of the nation's political crisis.