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BANGKOK : Thailand's top opposition party scored a win by helping to oust Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, but this has done little for the fortunes of a party that lacks a vision for the kingdom's future, analysts say.
The Democrat Party boycotted the April 2 elections, a snap poll called by Thaksin in a bid to end weeks of street rallies demanding his resignation over alleged abuse of power and corruption and to gain a new mandate.
But during the two-month deadlock, the People's Alliance for Democracy, a broad coalition of protest groups who took centre stage in the move against Thaksin, never called on Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to replace him.
Instead, they asked revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej to appoint a new prime minister.
Analysts say the country's oldest political party, which marked its 60th anniversary last week, has failed to win the confidence of voters during the five years Thaksin has been in office.
"After five years, we still don't have a policy platform from the party. I haven't heard what they are going to do with Thailand," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University.
"It's very frustrating because they have no policy. The Democrat Party has failed to present themselves as a credible alternative. So far in this crisis, we have Thaksin or nothing," Thitinan said.
Thaksin said last Tuesday he would not accept the post of prime minister when parliament convenes, even though his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party won 56 percent of the vote in the troubled elections.
Bhokin Balakula, the speaker of the house in the outgoing parliament who is tipped as a possible successor to Thaksin, attacked the Democrat Party for giving voters no clear alternatives.
"The Democrat Party should come up with concrete policies. It would benefit the public," Bhokin said on Friday.
Ruengrawee Tichaikul, an expert on Thai politics at the Asia Foundation in Bangkok, agreed.
"I have not seen any creative, concrete proposals in terms of moving against Thaksin's party," she said.
"In the past five years, the Democrat Party did not win the hearts and minds of Thai people. The party is so slow in taking steps because they are conservative. They are fighting inside until they come to a consensus."
Ruengrawee said the party's boycott was effective in forcing Thaksin out of office but even that decision took two days to reach.
"It's so frustrating," she said. "This is very different from Thaksin's party. When Thaksin makes a decision, he can make it in five minutes."
Even with calls mounting for constitutional reform to weaken the power of the prime minister, the Democrat Party has yet to present any concrete ideas.
"The negative outcome of the boycott is that the Democrat Party was not represented in parliament, and the party will have no input in the constitutional reforms because you have to do it in parliament," Thitinan said.
The professor said the party should focus more on presenting a clear platform on the future of Thailand instead of attacking Thaksin.
"They have to stop negative talk about Thaksin because we all know what Thaksin stands for. They should stop telling us what's wrong with Thaksin. Start telling us what's right with the Democrats," Thitinan said.
"What's their policy? Where is the future of Thailand?"
During the 2005 elections which helped Thaksin's party capture 377 of 500 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Democrat Party lost one quarter of its seats, leaving it only 96.
"The Democrats were badly beaten in the election last year and they have not recovered," one Western diplomat told AFP, asking not to be named.
"They also have a money problem," the diplomat added, stressing that the party founded by the telecoms tycoon Thaksin had easily outspent the Democrats in election campaigns.
After last Sunday's polls, the Thai Rak Thai party is expected to win some 460 seats. The Election Commission has yet to release official results.
The Asia Foundation's Ruengrawee was skeptical whether the opposition party that ruled Thailand during much of the 1990s was ready for government again.
"Even after this crisis, the party did not emerge as a strong, credible party," she said. "I'm not sure if they are ready to run the country."
- AFP ch/ct
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