| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai PM wins no-confidence vote |
| 2011-03-20 |
| BANGKOK -Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva survived a no-confidence motion on Saturday brought by opposition lawmakers seeking to inflict damage ahead of upcoming elections. Abhisit won the vote following a four-day censure debate, in which the opposition Puea Thai party accused his administration of corruption, policy failures and human rights violations — charges the government denies. The victory — the third such censure motion that Abhisit has faced down since 2009 — means the current ruling coalition can remain in office in the lead up to a fierce poll battle expected in late June or early July. Abhisit, who won 249 votes to 184 against him with 11 abstentions, was one of ten ministers named in the censure motion, all of whom narrowly survived separate votes by garnering the necessary minimum of 238 ballots. The opposition lawmakers were seen as having little chance of winning the no-confidence vote because they lack a majority in the lower house, dominated by a six-party coalition led by Abhisit’s establishment Democratic Party. “This is not about good governance or accountability, this is about how to survive a vote that will have a significant impact on the upcoming election,” said author and former Thai diplomat Pavin Chachavalpongpun. During the debate, the opposition accused Abhisit of abusing his power during deadly military operations in April and May 2010 aimed at clearing Red Shirt protesters from the streets of the capital. More than 90 people died in clashes between the army and Red Shirt demonstrators last year — the kingdom’s worst political violence in decades. The mainly rural, working class Reds are broadly loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives overseas to avoid a jail sentence for corruption imposed in his absence. They view Abhisit’s rule as undemocratic — which the government denies — because he came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote with the backing of the military after a court ruling threw out the previous administration. |
| Posted by:Steve White |