Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Showing posts with label Thai new PM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thai new PM. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The 27th Thai PM
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)
Now that Abhisit gets what he wanted, will be peace with Cambodia or same old Thai bellicose rhetorics?
Abhisit Vejjajiva (Photo: AFP)Thai Parliament Selects New Prime Minister
December 14, 2008
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times
BANGKOK — Thailand’s Parliament on Monday selected a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, an Oxford-educated politician.
The longtime opposition Democratic party pulled together a coalition government that included defectors from the governing party, putting an end to the seven-year dominance of electoral politics by the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr. Abhisit, 44, is Thailand’s youngest prime minister.
Monday’s Parliament session followed seven months of turmoil during which protesters have demanded the resignation of the pro-Thaksin government, blockading the prime minister’s office in August and shutting down Bangkok’s international and domestic airports.
The protesters dispersed and left the airport Dec. 3 after the Constitutional Court disbanded the governing People Power Party for fraud during the 2007 election that brought it to power.
Local newspapers reported Monday that the Democrats — as well as their smaller coalition partners — had sequestered their members in hotels overnight to avoid them getting bribed to switch parties.
The incumbent Pheua Thai party, which holds the most seats and owes its allegiance to Mr. Thaksin, insisted before the session that it could still rope in enough votes to form a majority.
But recent days have been dominated by reports of defections from the party, particularly by a faction controlled by a close Thaksin lieutenant, Newin Chidchob.
In a telling moment that seemed to signal the end, for now, of the Thaksin era, Mr. Newin last week was reported to have told Mr. Thaksin over the telephone, “Boss, it is all over.”
Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a coup in September 2006 and is now abroad, avoiding an arrest warrant for a corruption conviction. He has traveled to Hong Kong, Dubai and Bali, Indonesia, after having his visa revoked in Britain.
The People Power Party was a reincarnation of Mr. Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party, which was also disbanded for electoral fraud, in May 2007. In both court actions, a total of nearly 150 party executives, including Mr. Thaksin and a successor as prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, were barred from politics for five years.
The remaining loyalists reconstituted themselves as the Pheua Thai party, which still controlled the largest bloc of about 200 seats among the current 438 in Parliament, according to an analysis by The Nation newspaper.
The Democrats hold 167 seats and say they are ready to form a coalition government with 242 seats. A total of at least 220 votes is needed to form a government.
The longtime opposition Democratic party pulled together a coalition government that included defectors from the governing party, putting an end to the seven-year dominance of electoral politics by the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr. Abhisit, 44, is Thailand’s youngest prime minister.
Monday’s Parliament session followed seven months of turmoil during which protesters have demanded the resignation of the pro-Thaksin government, blockading the prime minister’s office in August and shutting down Bangkok’s international and domestic airports.
The protesters dispersed and left the airport Dec. 3 after the Constitutional Court disbanded the governing People Power Party for fraud during the 2007 election that brought it to power.
Local newspapers reported Monday that the Democrats — as well as their smaller coalition partners — had sequestered their members in hotels overnight to avoid them getting bribed to switch parties.
The incumbent Pheua Thai party, which holds the most seats and owes its allegiance to Mr. Thaksin, insisted before the session that it could still rope in enough votes to form a majority.
But recent days have been dominated by reports of defections from the party, particularly by a faction controlled by a close Thaksin lieutenant, Newin Chidchob.
In a telling moment that seemed to signal the end, for now, of the Thaksin era, Mr. Newin last week was reported to have told Mr. Thaksin over the telephone, “Boss, it is all over.”
Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a coup in September 2006 and is now abroad, avoiding an arrest warrant for a corruption conviction. He has traveled to Hong Kong, Dubai and Bali, Indonesia, after having his visa revoked in Britain.
The People Power Party was a reincarnation of Mr. Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party, which was also disbanded for electoral fraud, in May 2007. In both court actions, a total of nearly 150 party executives, including Mr. Thaksin and a successor as prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, were barred from politics for five years.
The remaining loyalists reconstituted themselves as the Pheua Thai party, which still controlled the largest bloc of about 200 seats among the current 438 in Parliament, according to an analysis by The Nation newspaper.
The Democrats hold 167 seats and say they are ready to form a coalition government with 242 seats. A total of at least 220 votes is needed to form a government.
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