Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva elected as new PM
Posted: 15 December 2008 1221 hrs

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BANGKOK: 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.

Dozens of angry Thaksin supporters clad in red shirts clashed 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 44-year-old Abhisit won 235 votes to 198 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 the direction his government would take but has previously said his priorities were restoring the economy and forging political unity after months of turmoil.

Loyalists gathered round him and offered congratulations after the vote, which came amid reports of MPs being locked in hotels and having their mobile phones confiscated as rival parties battled to form a new government.

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 Thailand's international image and its economy, with GDP growth forecast at just two per cent 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.

Thaksin was overthrown in a coup in 2006 and remains in exile abroad to avoid corruption charges.

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

In September this year, the court ruled that elected premier Samak Sundaravej must be stripped of office because he hosted 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 Democrats in recent days, along with several smaller parties that were part of the previous coalition government.

Thaksin's supporters have accused the powerful army of interfering in the formation of the new government, labelling the dissolution of the ruling party "a silent coup."

Twice-elected 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.

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.

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.

- AFP/yb