Thai premier survives no-confidence vote

Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej speaks during a no-confidence debate against him at Parliament in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Samak's six-party coalition government showed no signs of cracking Wednesday and a pending no-confidence vote in Parliament seemed likely to go in his favor despite a barrage of criticism launched against him. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

By AMBIKA AHUJA –

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thailand's prime minister survived a no-confidence vote Friday, fending off accusations of incompetence, mismanagement and yielding national sovereignty.

But despite Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's success in the parliamentary vote, weekslong street protests demanding the resignation of his government continued.

The opposition's motion against Samak was rejected Friday in the 470-member lower house of Parliament by a vote of 280-162, with the rest of the lawmakers abstaining or absent. The lawmakers also rejected no-confidence motions against seven other Cabinet members.

The voting results were largely expected because Samak's six-party coalition, led by his People's Power Party, controls two-thirds of the seats in the lower house.

The victory in Parliament may help defuse some political tension but protesters, who have been hounding Samak's government for a month, were expected to persevere in their calls for the government to step down.

"The government may have won inside the Parliament but they may still lose outside the house's chamber," said Sombat Thamrongtanyawong, a professor at the National Institute of Development Administration. "After the voting, the spotlight is now back on protesters who will likely step up the pressure on the street."

Critics accuse Samak's government, which took office in February, of mismanaging the ailing Thai economy, failing to defend the country's revered monarchy and of being a proxy for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He has angrily denied the allegations.

Among the thorny issues that have undermined the government and stoked nationalist sentiment is a territorial dispute with Cambodia.

The opposition accused Samak of bypassing Parliament last week when he endorsed Cambodia's application for UNESCO World Heritage Site status for a disputed border temple. The 11th-century temple is located on disputed territory, and although it was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, many Thais still claim the temple as theirs.

"The Preah Vihear temple is part of a wounded history of Thailand and Cambodia," said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian at Bangkok's Thammasat University. "It was used to stir up a nationalist movement in the past and is now threatening to inflame politics again."

Protesters led by the People's Alliance for Democracy have rallied on the streets of Bangkok for a month and have occupied the area around Government House, the seat of Thailand's government, since breaking through a police cordon last week.

The protesters allege that Samak's government is interfering with corruption charges against Thaksin, a tycoon-turned-politician who was ousted in a 2006 coup, and accuse Samak of not defending the monarchy against criticism.

The alliance led mass demonstrations before the 2006 coup demanding Thaksin step down for alleged corruption and abuse of power. The alliance leaders have said they will not be satisfied until Samak's entire government steps down.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva accused Samak during debate earlier in the week of mishandling the economy and failing to ease the impact of soaring oil prices, interfering with freedom of the press and violating national interests.

"Even after four months in power, the administration massively mismanaged the country, with no unity, no direction and no efficiency," Abhisit said, adding that the government's focus has been on rehabilitating Thaksin rather than alleviating the plight of the people.

Samak countered that although some members of Thaksin's now-disbanded political party have joined his People's Power Party, the PPP was a new political entity and that he and not Thaksin was now in charge.

He also defended the government's economic policy, saying the whole world faced soaring costs driven by oil price hikes.

Thaksin's autocratic leanings and alleged corruption drew resentment from the Bangkok elite, the military and people associated with the monarchy. Those forces tried to erase Thaksin's political legacy, changing the constitution and opening criminal investigations against him.

Despite the coup, he retains widespread popularity among rural people and the urban poor, who benefited from his populist policies while he held office in 2001-2006.