Thailand

MPs' no-show means Samak loses power

Article published on the 2008-09-12 Latest update 2008-09-12 15:55 TU

Samak leaves Parliament
(Photo: Reuters)

Samak Sundaravej was forced to bow out of his attempt to be re-elected Thailand's Prime Minister on Thursday, after MPs from the six parties in his coalition government failed to turn up to a parliamentary session expected to re-elect him. A court sacked Samak on Tuesday for receiving payment for hosting a TV cookery show while in office.

"Prime minister Samak asked me to deliver the message that he has done his best as the party leader to preserve democracy. Now his role has come to an end, and everything is now up to the party," his personal secretary Theeraphol Noprampha told reporters.

Samak's People Power Party will now be forced to find a compromise candidate before a new vote scheduled for Wednesday.

That will not be easy, says correspondent Arnaud Dubus.

"There is no figure within the People Power Party, or even within the six parties of coalition, who can gather around themselves a large number of politicians, so that’s a real problem," he told RFI.

Samak has lost power after only six months as premier, the victim of a protest movement which has occupied government buildings, accusing him of being a front for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"The current Prime Minister, Mr Somchai Wongsawat, who is the brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister, cannot be accepted by the coalition parties because he is too close to Mr Thaksin," says Dubus.