Thailand

Yellow Shirts found party, Sondhi made leader

Article published on the 2009-10-06 Latest update 2009-10-06 13:43 TU

Sondhi Limthongkul during last year's protests
(Photo: Reuters)

Thai media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul was elected leader of the newly created New Politics Party in Bangkok on Tuesday. The party has been set up by leaders of 2008's Yellow Shirt protests and is bitterly hostile to the Red Shirts who back former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

After toppling two governments by mass protests - in 2006 and 2008 - the People's Alliance for Democracy, also known as the Yellow Shirts, has transformed itself into a political party, which says it will promote "clean politics".

"We will make the New Politics Party change politics for our next generations," Sondhi told the conference after being elected by 1,741 votes, with 61 against and 73 abstentions.

Somsak Kosaiauk, who has been the movement's interim leader, was elected deputy leader.

The conference was broadcast live on Sondhi's TV channel ASTV.

Sondhi, who survived an assassination attempt in April, faces a number of libel cases.

Last month, an appeals court reduced to six months a two-year jail term that Sondhi was given by a lower court in 2008 for defaming former Deputy Transport Minister Phumtham Vechayachai.

A second court sentenced Sondhi to two years in jail for defaming another Thaksin ally, former central bank governor and Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula. He was granted bail while he appeals in both cases.

The Yellow Shirts enjoyed the support of much of Thailand's elite and are ardent royalists.