Sondhi and the PAD advocate the scrapping of the one-man-one-vote democracy in Thailand [EPA]

The PAD is a disparate collection of liberal democrats denouncing corruption and authoritarianism, and right-wing royalists who would welcome military rule with royal patronage.

Its supporters are mainly urban, middle- to upper-class who are relatively rich compared to the majority of Thailand's rural population.

Nobody knows who is really backing the PAD, but most analysts suspect the group has deep pockets and is well connected.

Some have suggested it is supported by the monarchy, but King Bhumibol Adulyadej has neither publicly backed nor condemned the group.

A spokesman for the prime minister said that at a recent meeting with the king, there was no pressure on Samak Sundaravej to resign.

Bangkok's middle class espouses democracy but the group's name appears to be a misnomer as it is neither populist nor does it want representative democracy.

Democracy rollback

Instead, Sondhi and the PAD advocate the scrapping of the one-man-one-vote democracy in Thailand and say only 30 per cent of parliament's members should be directly elected by the people.

The remaining 70 per cent should be chosen from various occupations and professions and be appointed, they say.

Similar ideas have been floated before, most notably in 1983. The general who was then serving as prime minister, Prem Tinsulanoda, now an adviser to the king, found himself frustrated by having to compromise with the elected politicians in his cabinet.

Sondhi has said that the PAD hopes to "teach the politicians a lesson that just because they have the majority vote, doesn't mean they can do whatever they want".

Supinya Klangnarong from the Campaign for Popular Media Reform, a Bangkok-based lobby group, told Al Jazeera that the group was going against democratic principles.

"It is obvious now that the PAD proposal is very anti-democratic principle because they no longer believe in the politicians who are elected by the people," she said.
 
Sondhi, who has also argued for an expanded role for the military, was largely responsible for instigating similar street protests in 2006 against Thaksin Shinawatra, the then prime minister.

Thaksin's empowerment of the poor rural majority by implementing welfare programmes such as a universal healthcare scheme and cheap credit sparked fears in the country's elite that the wealth gap that gave them their lives of privilege could evaporate.

So his elitist, royalist opponents exploited Thaksin's weaknesses: corruption, heavy-handedness in dealing with alleged drug lords, accusations of manipulating the media and rumours of plans to turn Thailand into a republic.

The demonstrations in 2006 eventually triggered the military coup that overthrew Thaksin.

The PAD accuses Samak of being a Thaksin proxy and perpetuating his policies, and it launched fresh street protests in May demanding Samak resign for seeking constitutional amendments it says were aimed at helping Thaksin.

The group upped the ante in late August when it raided a TV station, surround three ministries and broke into Bangkok's main government compound in what it called its "final war" against the government.

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