HONG KONG: An alliance of pro-democracy parties would defeat pro-military parties in the upcoming general election if it is held freely and fairly, ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thursday.
"I think the pro-democracy parties, all together, will win more than 300 [lower house] seats out of 500. It's time for [voters] to cast their ballots...to dump the dictatorship of Thailand," Thaksin said in an interview with Kyodo News during a visit to Hong Kong.
According to the 2017 constitution, to win the prime minister vote, the pro-democracy alliance would need at least 376 votes in the House.
The 69-year-old policeman-turned-telecoms mogul, who was ousted as premier in a bloodless military coup in 2006, said his party, which has won every national election since 2001, will surely do well at the polls tentatively scheduled for Feb 24 because many voters believe it "always has a solution for them".
"Every time we become government, they feel they prosper, especially the people in the middle class and the lower class people. The people need a party that can have a solution for their lives, more than a party with a lot of authority, a lot of excess power, which [does not] allow them to have more freedom," he said.
Thaksin said he is "quite certain" the polls will take place as scheduled on Feb 24 since Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who came to power in another bloodless military coup in 2014, has "promised internationally several times" to proceed with it, after several delays.
"It's his last chance to keep his word," he said, adding that to do otherwise would "not be good for the country."
Thaksin said that under the junta's rule "you cannot expect any kind of true democracy, you cannot expect any [fairness]."
He and his younger sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, are both living abroad, in London and elsewhere, as fugitives from justice. They face arrest if they return home, after being convicted of various corruption and abuse of power charges.
With regard to his family's future role in politics, Thaksin said, "It's time for us to step back, let the party run itself professionally."
While insisting he prefers not to lead the country as prime minister again because he has "quite settled down", he did not rule the possibility if his followers insist on it.
"I prefer to live my life peacefully, outside Thailand. But if they need me, because I owe them [for] their continual support -- whatever I can do for them, even in a different capacity, I'll do it."
