Senior members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement agreed Tuesday to name their new party as "Karn Muang Mai" or "New Politics", in an attempt to finalize the preparations for the party registration process, which is beginning this week, Thai media reported.

The Nation online quoted an undisclosed source as saying that 21 key leaders of the PAD, or the yellow-shirts, convened on Tuesday morning and decided the tentative name and interim party leader.

Somsak Kosaisuk, one of the five PAD core leaders, was elected the interim leader, and PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila, interim party secretary-general.

According to another newspaper online, the Bangkok Post, Suriyasai in the meeting proposed three names for the party -- Thien Haeng Tham (Candle of Dhamma), Panthamit Prachachon Puea Prachathipatai (PAD), and Kan Muang Mai (New Politics).

It was also agreed by the meeting that Mr. Somsak's residence will be used as the party's temporary office.

The PAD is expected to finalise the preparations, including choosing a tentative party name and an interim party leader, in order to commence the party registration process within this week, PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila earlier said.

The final name and the nomination of the party leader will be finalised within two months after commencing the registration process.

The new party is expected to recruit 5,000 members and set up branches in all the four regions within a one-year deadline. It also plans an early completion of the registration process in order to contest the next general election.

The PAD is a political group that opposes the ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as well as the last two Thaksin-affiliated administrations, and it gained worldwide notice late 2008 when the yellow-clad PAD protesters besieged two Bangkok airports for nine days as a leverage to force then Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government to dissolve.

April 17, PAD co-founder and core leader Sondhi Limthongkul became a target of assassination when a group of gunmen spattered bullets at his car. Sondhi suffered head injuries but survived the hail of bullets.

Sondhi on May 3 said in a press conference that some "senior military officials" were masterminds behind his murder attempt. The PAD later announced they had filed the Election Commission a registration request as a new political party, to promote what they called a "transparent politics".

Source: Xinhua