Parties may switch sides and form government

Bangkok: Thailand's opposition Democrat Party said yesterday that several parties in the ruling coalition were willing to switch sides and form a government with it.

Parliament must elect a prime minister to succeed Somchai Wongsawat after his People Power Party (PPP), the biggest in the coalition, was disbanded on Tuesday by the courts for electoral fraud, the latest twist in a three-year political crisis.

At a news conference that was delayed for two hours, the Democrat Party presented senior officials from four parties it said were now on its side, plus some defectors from the PPP.

"We understand the country's economic problems and the feelings of the Thai people. We have decided to get together to help solve the country's crisis," Suthep Thaugsuban, the Democrat Party's secretary-general, told the news conference.

Many Thais had been looking to the king to calm the situation in an annual address to the nation on Thursday, the eve of his 81st birthday, but he was too ill to attend the ceremony. The palace said yesterday his condition had improved.

Adding to the muddle, Thaksin's ex-wife has just returned to Thailand from exile amid speculation in the Thai press she had come back to sort out problems inside Puea Thai.

Despite arrest warrants against her, police said they did not detain Potjaman Shinawatra because she was pursuing an appeal against a three-year jail sentence for tax evasion.