Thai parliament votes Somchai Wongsawat as PM
17/9/2008 17:16
Thailand's House of Representatives today voted Somchai Wongsawat, acting
prime minister and deputy leader of the People Power Party, as the country's new
prime minister.
House Speaker Chai Chidchob announced that Somchai's
nomination was backed by 298 votes after a one-by-one role-call tally that
lasted for about one hour.
The other candidate, Abhisit Vejjajiva, party
leader of the sole opposition Democrat Party, got 163 votes. Five MPs have
abstained.
Somchai was supported by the PPP and the other five coalition
parties in the caretaker government.
Somchai thanked all the MPs who have
voted for him when the House Speaker concluded the voting results.
The voting
session convened at 9:30 a.m. (0230GMT) as scheduled. Finally 466 out of a total
470 members of parliament, showed up for the voting.
A 61-year-old with rich
experience in judicial matters, Somchai will become Thailand's 26th Prime
Minister, succeeding Samak Sundaravej, who was disqualified as premier by a
Constitutional Court verdict on Sept. 9, which found him in breach of the
charter by hosting TV cooking shows while in office.
Somchai is
brother-in-law of ousted Thaksin Shinwatra and former Justice Ministry permanent
secretary. He served as deputy prime minister and education minister in the
Samak cabinet before being appointed as acting premier to head the caretaker
government.
Samak missed today's voting as he was reportedly still on the way
to the parliament when the session ended at around 10:30 am (0330GMT).
The
voting to elect a new PM had been adjourned to today from last Friday after
fractions of the PPP, and the other smaller five coalition parties voiced
opposition to the PPP's earlier decision to reinstall Samak as prime minister.
The last-minute exodus of a large number of MPs led to a lack of quorum in the
House, hence the postponement.
A soft and moderate character, and relatively
good relationship with the opposition Democrat are deemed the strengths of
Somchai, which his backers believe will help negotiate with the anti- government
group People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has led protesters to occupy
the Government House for more than 20 days, and sort a way out of the current
political impasse.
Shortly after the voting concluded, two PAD core leaders
Chamlong Srimuang and Somsak Kosaisuk held a news conference to affirm that the
group does not accept Somchai because he is a nominee of ousted prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.
Somchai was married to Yaowapa, the younger sister of
former prime minister Thaksin, and a former MP of the Thaksin-founded former
ruling party Thai Rak Thai. Her voting right was revoked when the party was
dissolved in May, 2007. Their daughter Chinnicha is the youngest female MP in
the current House of Representatives.
Somchai's appointment as premier is
pending royal endorsement by the King.
After that, the six coalition parties
will set up a new government quickly, said PPP deputy leader and caretaker
justice minister Sompong Amornwiwat.
He also suggested that there could be a
small reshuffle from the current caretaker cabinet.
Democrat Party
secretary-general Suthep Thuagsuban warned the new prime minister against any
drastic acts that might challenge public feelings, such as amending the 2007
Constitution, granting amnesty to politicians -- referring to the 111 former
Thai Rak Thai party executives who were banned from electoral process along with
the party's dissolution.
Xinhua
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