He stepped down from being chief before was due to retire, formed a political party and contested the March moves considered to be democratically and a model for military personnel wishing to take the acceptable open road to political power door. he did not receive the support from the military leader hip that he had installed. Instead it blocked him at every turn, formed its own to deny him the top post, and Suchinda's accusation that he a presidium style of government dogged him throughout the Se tember election campaign. As a prime ministerial candidate, he was thought best able to deal with the Class 5 group, and although his civilian administra was he could boast considerable achievements in government and politics. He was also credited with having consider able diplomatic especially in his dealings with neighbouring analysts also considered Chaovalit to have of far sightedness and innovativeness, whilst on the other hand lacking in effective communication skills to convey his plans and ideas clearly Chatichai Choonhaven had been on both the giving and the receiving end of coups. He was seen as being rich in political experience, with flexibility and with skills in coordinating politicians and businessmen his main weakness was seen to be his extreme flexibility which had blinded him to the magnitude of the problems his government faced in late 1990, particularly in respect to the question of corruption in government, when should have dissolved the House. As one of the"unusually wealthy" it was also predicted that there would be on-going protests were he to become prime minister What of the media? It was clear that virtually all the newspapers were calling for a victory for parties that were honest, but beyond that, few showed preference for any of the main "angel" contenders. The one main exception was Nation. It argued that, given the events following the coup, an essential precondition for the prime was being by corruption