BANGKOK- A Thai general who led a 2006 coup that toppled premier Thaksin Shinawatra became the leader of a small political party Wednesday, saying he wanted to foster unity in the deeply-divided kingdom.
Sonthi Boonyaratglin said he could even one day work with billionaire Thaksin's political allies if they defeat the current government of anti-Thaksin prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in elections due by 2011.
The 63-year-old Sonthi was chosen as chief of the little-known Matubhum Party, which mostly comprises Muslim politicians from Thailand's insurgency-hit southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
"I decided to lead this party because its policies are neutral and our country is deeply divided. The party goal is to make our country peaceful," Sonthi told reporters.
He did not rule out working with the pro-Thaksin Puea Thai party, which is in opposition. Puea Thai's predecessor was dissolved by the election commission for fraud in December 2008, paving the way for Abhisit to take power.
"It depends on our policy, if our policies are in line with them," he said.
"I staged the coup to overthrow the Thaksin government and to preserve democracy. But a diplomat asked me recently how can Thailand have backtracked so much in the past two years."
An alliance with Thaksin's allies would mark a radical turnaround for Sonthi just three years after he led the September 2006 coup accusing the telecoms tycoon of widespread corruption and of disloyalty to the king.
His announcement also adds to the potential opponents faced by Abhisit's Democrat Party in the next elections.
The founder of Thailand's Thaksin-hating "Yellow Shirt" protesters, Sondhi Limthongkul, was last month elected head of its newly-created political wing, the New Politics Party.
The Yellow Shirts led a blockade of Bangkok's airports almost one year ago to drive Thaksin's allies out of government and held mass street protests in the months before the coup against Thaksin himself.
Thaksin is living in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption but has continued to stoke up support at home. Earlier this month he visited neighboring Cambodia as an economic adviser, sparking a diplomatic crisis.
