Thai opposition leader elected new PM

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/081215/afp/081215073031asiapacificnews.html

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected Monday as the nation's third prime minister in four months, triggering protests from supporters of the old government who tried to block parliament.

British-born Democrat Party leader Abhisit will head up a weak coalition government after winning a parliamentary vote, nearly two weeks after a court dissolved the ruling party linked to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

At least 100 angry Thaksin supporters clad in red shirts scuffled with police and threw traffic barriers outside the gates of parliament to try to prevent lawmakers from leaving after the session.

"Abhisit gained more than half of the vote, therefore I declare that Abhisit has been voted as the new prime minister," House Speaker Chai Chidchob announced.


He said Abhisit, 44, had won votes from 235 lawmakers to 198 votes for ex-police chief Pracha Promnog, who had been proposed by the former ruling party and its allies.

Oxford-educated Abhisit gave no immediate indication of his policies but has previously said his priority would be to restore the economy after months of protests against the previous government.

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"I thanked all members of parliament who voted for me," said Abhisit, who becomes Thailand's 27th prime minister and the first from the Democrat Party in eight years.

"But I will not be speaking about my political stance before the royal command is issued," he said.

Officials said the decree from the king officially installing Abhisit as premier was likely to be given on Tuesday.

Democrat Party secretary general Suthep Tuangsuban said the cabinet list was expected in about a week, adding that he was "confident" the government would be stable despite its thin majority.

The vote follows six months of increasingly disruptive protests by the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which peaked with a week-long blockade of Bangkok's airports beginning in late November.

The turmoil left 350,000 passengers stranded and has badly hit both Thailand's international image and its economy, with GDP growth forecast at just two percent next year.

PAD supporters said the previous government was running the nation on behalf of Thaksin, and had already occupied the prime minister's offices since August and forced the suspension of parliament on one occasion.

Twice-elected Thaksin, a telecoms tycoon and former policeman, was overthrown in a coup in 2006 and remains in exile abroad to avoid corruption charges.

Thaksin alienated elements of the old elite in the palace, military and bureaucracy, who saw his immense popularity among the urban and rural poor as a drain on some of their power.

Since elections restored democracy in Thailand in December 2007, the Constitutional Court has removed two Thaksin-linked prime ministers.

In September this year, the court ruled that elected premier Samak Sundaravej must be stripped of office over his hosting of TV cooking shows.

On December 2, the court dissolved the PPP and handed a five-year political ban to then-premier Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law, over vote fraud charges dating back to last December's polls.

Several members of the PPP defected to the Democrat Party in recent days, along with several smaller parties that were part of the previous coalition government.

Abhisit failed to win over Thaksin's rural supporters in the elections, but is believed to have the backing of the kingdom's old establishment and the military.

Thawee Suraritikul, a political science professor at Sukhothai University, said Abhisit's Democrats will face a shaky coalition and a slim majority.

"Their first three months will be a crucial period. They have many problems waiting for them -- economics, and the sharing of power among coalition partners," he told AFP.