Sam Mitr News Today

Somsak Thepsutin, a former justice minister and new Pheu Thai Party member, has denied an accusation that he had revised a ministerial regulation to help fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Somsak Thepsutin, a former justice minister and new Pheu Thai Party member, has denied an accusation that he had revised a ministerial regulation to help fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The defection of two key figures of the Sam Mitr faction, Suriya Juangroongruangkit and Somsak Thepsutin, from the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) to the Pheu Thai Party has dealt a blow to the ruling party.

The Pheu Thai Party has recently revised its MP target, aiming to capture 310 House seats in the next polls — an ambitious scale-up from the 250 seats — and form a solid single-party government. The move is seen by academics as a major task and tactic to intensify the campaign and to get rid of the pro-Prayut camp.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday that he has prepared a decree to dissolve the Parliament and that it is awaiting royal endorsement.

The ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) aims to capture at least a dozen House seats in Bangkok in the next election, the same number it won in the previous poll.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said he will defect from the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) most probably to the main opposition Pheu Thai Party.

Two veteran politicians have left the Democrat Party for the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, while the last remaining core members of the Sam Mitr group, one of the mainstay factions in the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), are poised to return to the Pheu Thai Party, according to political sources.

The Pheu Thai Party on Wednesday said it would welcome back with open arms the Sam Mitr faction if it defects from the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), the ruling party, ahead of the general election.

The ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the coalition Bhumjaithai Party may be trading places after the next general election if predictions about the outcome of the polls are anything to go by.