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Thai PM 'confident' amid riot, no-confidence talks
Source: AFP |
November 26, 2012, Monday
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Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday faced a no-confidence debate launched by her opponents in parliament, a day after political protests turned violent in Bangkok.
But the motions, which also target three other government ministers, appeared to have little chance of being passed by a legislature dominated by Yingluck's Puea Thai party and its coalition partners.
"The prime minister has failed to govern this country as promised. She allows corruption," Democrat Party opposition MP Jurin Laksanavisit said at the start of the debate, scheduled to last for three days.
"She also allows outside people to influence her and control her administration," he added, in a thinly veiled reference to Yingluck's brother, ousted former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Yingluck, who is accused by her rivals of being a puppet for her fugitive brother, told reporters she was "confident" her government could defend itself.
Her six-party ruling coalition, formed after Puea Thai's decisive election win last June, controls about three-fifths of the seats in the lower house.
The debate, due to be followed by a no-confidence vote on Wednesday, kicked off a day after riot police clashed with anti-government protesters in Bangkok.
Police fired tear gas and made 138 arrests after a group of demonstrators tried to force their way through a fence on the edge of the main protest site with the help of a truck.
But the estimated attendance of about 20,000 fell far short of the half a million target set by organizers, the royalist group Pitak Siam (Protecting Siam).
Police said yesterday they had freed 137 of the 138 protesters detained for breaking a special security law invoked to deal with the unrest.
But the motions, which also target three other government ministers, appeared to have little chance of being passed by a legislature dominated by Yingluck's Puea Thai party and its coalition partners.
"The prime minister has failed to govern this country as promised. She allows corruption," Democrat Party opposition MP Jurin Laksanavisit said at the start of the debate, scheduled to last for three days.
"She also allows outside people to influence her and control her administration," he added, in a thinly veiled reference to Yingluck's brother, ousted former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Yingluck, who is accused by her rivals of being a puppet for her fugitive brother, told reporters she was "confident" her government could defend itself.
Her six-party ruling coalition, formed after Puea Thai's decisive election win last June, controls about three-fifths of the seats in the lower house.
The debate, due to be followed by a no-confidence vote on Wednesday, kicked off a day after riot police clashed with anti-government protesters in Bangkok.
Police fired tear gas and made 138 arrests after a group of demonstrators tried to force their way through a fence on the edge of the main protest site with the help of a truck.
But the estimated attendance of about 20,000 fell far short of the half a million target set by organizers, the royalist group Pitak Siam (Protecting Siam).
Police said yesterday they had freed 137 of the 138 protesters detained for breaking a special security law invoked to deal with the unrest.
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