Thai Parliament set to vote for new PM next week

THAILAND: Thailand’s parliament is likely to vote for a new prime minister early next week after a court toppled the government in an electoral fraud case, the acting premier said Wednesday.

Acting Prime Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul also vowed not to dissolve parliament, despite the verdict on Tuesday that barred premier Somchai Wongsawat from politics and abolished the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

“I don’t know who will become new prime minister but I expect we will be able to get a new prime minister either on December 8 or 9 during the extraordinary session of parliament,” he told reporters.

“I have initially discussed it with the house speaker and he said a vote for prime minister is possible during the session,” he said.

Anti-government protesters abandoned a siege of Bangkok’s airports on Wednesday following the court verdict, but have threatened to return if the new premier is linked to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, is the brother-in-law of Somchai and the arch-foe of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement.

The court ruling also disbanded two of the PPP’s five coalition partners, but Chavarat said there was no need for snap elections as all members of the coalition that won elections in December 2007 have vowed to stick together.

“During December 8 or 9 we will have a new prime minister therefore why should I dissolve the house?” he said.

Following the verdict, which barred some party executives from politics, members of the coalition currently command a 59-seat majority in the 448-seat House of Representatives.

The opposition Democrat Party has only 165 seats.

BANGKOK, Wednesday, AFP