In December, the Democrat Party revealed that it had set up banners of Jurin Laksanawisit, the leader of the party and the deputy prime minister, alongside Chuan Leekpai, the house speaker and a party stalwart, wishing the people a happy new year in every province.
Banners for new year’s greetings are a staple of every political party in Thailand, an easy excuse for politicians to make their names and faces familiar to the electorate before the campaigning season begins in earnest.
But the decision to place both Jurin and Chuan on the poster is a curious one. It raises a number of awkward questions for the party. Is Jurin’s brand so weak that he is stronger when he appears with Chuan? And why is the party figure with the most magnetic pull a former prime minister in his mid-80s?
Ken Mathis Lohatepanont 
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