Bangkok  - Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday pledged to try to host the 14th ASEAN summit in early February if he is elected prime minister next week.

Thailand, which was scheduled to host the 14th summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations on December 15-18, had to postpone the annual event until March because of political chaos in Bangkok.

The postponement has been criticized by some ASEAN leaders, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who described the delay as a setback for South-East Asia. "The new government ought to speed up the summit in order to restore the confidence of our ASEAN friends," said Abhisit, the leader of the Democrat Party, who is in the running to become Thailand's next prime minister.

Former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat was forced to postpone the ASEAN summit after the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) occupied Bangkok's two airports - Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang - from November 25 to December 3 as part of their anti-government protests.

Somchai was forced to step down on December 2, after the Constitution Court dissolved his People Power Party and banned its top executives from office.

Thailand is currently under a caretaker cabinet as the political parties jockey among themselves to set up a new coalition government.

On Monday, Parliament will reconvene to vote on a new prime minister.

Abhisit, 44, the leader of the Democrat Party, is deemed the leading candidate to become the country's next prime minister as he has secured the backing of four smaller parties and a breakaway faction of the former People Power Party (PPP), known as the "Friends of Newin."

But nothing is certain in Thai politics.

Fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to address a rally of supporters in Bangkok on Saturday, via a phoned-in speech, in which he is expected to try to influence the outcome of the Monday vote.

Thaksin is expected to call on the people who voted for the PPP to put pressure on the breakaway "Friends of Newin" faction to not vote for Abhisit. Newin Chidchob was formerly a close political ally of Thaksin's.

If Abhisit fails to win the premiership, Thailand is likely to return to its political stalemate.

On Friday the PAD made new demands of the yet-to-be-formed coalition government, threatening a new "movement" should they be ignored.

In a statement, the activists said they were ready to launch a new "movement suitable for the situation," if their demands were ignored.

The PAD, a loose coalition of groups fanatically opposed to a return to power by Thaksin, staged protests for six months in Bangkok until the last government was toppled.

They demanded that the next prime minister must not be from the Puea Thai party, a reincarnation of the PPP, and that it must pursue various corruption cases and lese majeste cases against Thaksin and revoke his diplomatic passport. (dpa)