Surapong said that impartiality on the part of the Election Commission would be crucial to the outcome of the polls. The PPP hopes it will get 10 or fewer red and yellow tickets, as these could lead to the disqualification of the party's candidates.

Unlike Samak, the outspoken and aggressive party leader, Surapong projects a softer and more compromising side of the party in which Thaksin Shinawatra's legacy is still predominant.

On the Thaksin factor, Surapong said the former TRT boss hasn't been involved much with PPP's fielding of candidates for the election.

According to Surapong, 40 to 50 per cent of PPP's MP candidates for December 23 are new faces, so Thaksin is unfamiliar with most of them.

Even Surapong himself isn't among those closest to the former Thai Rak Thai boss, but he received the backing of several ex-MPs to work as secretary-general.

Surapong, who will stand in the election as No 1 on the party's list for a group of northeastern provinces, believes the PPP's selling points are their plans to highlight reconciliation in society and fix the sagging economy. On reconciliation, the secretary-general has pledged that the party will not take revenge even if it wins enough House seats to form the next government.

However, this sounds "unconvincing" as long as the PPP leadership remains unchanged.

Surapong also warned that the economy could plunge deeper into a crisis if proper remedies are not taken quickly after the election.

His analysis is that the current economic problems stem from the grass-roots population's growing hardships. The next government will have to deal with the problems faced by 85 per cent of the population first.

The root cause of the 1997 economic crisis was in the financial and banking sector as well as big businesses, and as a result only about 5 per cent of the population were directly affected.

As a result, the problems brought on by the 2007 crisis could prove to be tougher to solve than those of the previous crisis.

The next government will also be less stable, because the new constitution will increase the bargaining power of MPs and party managers will have less power.

In addition, the next government will likely be a coalition government rather than a single-party administration.

As a coalition government, inter-party rivalry will also be a significant factor hindering its performance, and this under-performance could mean the government will be unpopular and short-lived.

The honeymoon period for the next government will also be rather short, maybe just three months or even less, after which it will likely face a strong reaction from voters if it underperforms.

Commenting further on the Thaksin factor, Surapong said all lawsuits and other legal actions should be left to the courts and, hopefully, the ex-premier would find a better future in philanthropy or in building Manchester City, of which he is the major shareholder, into the next champion of the English Premier League.

But it's hard to believe at this stage that Thaksin will really leave the political arena forever.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun