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The
"Thai Pakdee" (Loyal Thai) party is an offshoot of a royalist
group of the same name formed last August to counter street
demonstrations with rallies in support of the king.
Veteran politician Warong Dechgitvigrom will lead the new party,
which he said will fight political groups whose true intention
was to topple the monarchy.
"Before we defend ... today we declare war, we will fight to
protect the monarchy," Warong told a news conference.
Leaders of the protest movement have rejected allegations that
toppling the monarchy is their goal and have repeatedly said
they want to make the institution more compatible with
democracy.
Warong said the prominent opposition party, Move Forward, and
its associated Progressive Movement group would be his party's
political rivals, as well as the youth-led groups that he called
"the three-fingers mob", referring to the "Hunger Games" salute
they use in their campaign.
In a statement Warong said his party did not have support of any
particular groups or businesses and would belong to the people.
He did not name any other members, but said the election
commission had been notified of its formation and executives
would be selected soon.
Progressive politician Piyabutr Saengkanokkul warned, however,
that the new party risked associating the monarchy with domestic
politics.
"The formation of a party that advocates the protection of the
monarchy, whether by good intention or for destroying others,
could only bring the monarchy into the political sphere,"
Piyabutr said on his official Twitter account.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing
by Martin Petty)
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