The People Power Party (PPP), which supports former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, unveiled a coalition government yesterday, capping a dramatic political turnaround 16 months after Thaksin's ouster.
The announcement of the six-party coalition ended four weeks of suspense following last month's general elections, which had left the PPP just shy of a majority in parliament.
"It took a long time to get here," party leader Samak Sundaravej told a press conference. "I am really relieved that now there's nothing more to worry about."
Under the coalition the PPP-led government would control about two-thirds of the 480 seats in parliament, he said.
"This will ensure that the government can last a long time," he said.
Samak, 72, refused to say if he would become the next prime minister, although he now appears to be a top contender.
Parliament will open tomorrow and could choose a new prime minister within a week, he said.
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej then must give his official approval, a formality that normally takes a few days.
Although the party won the election -- the first since a bloodless coup in September 2006 -- their victory had been threatened by legal challenges filed at the Supreme Court and dozens of vote fraud investigations by the Election Commission.
After a flurry of legal activity on Friday, the PPP found itself in the clear as the top court dismissed the most serious charges against it and election officials announced they had settled most of their investigations.
The creation of a new government led by Thaksin's allies delivers an enormous blow to the royalist generals in the military, who had relentlessly sought to erase the flamboyant billionaire's political and corporate dynasty.
After the coup, Thaksin and 110 of his top lieutenants were banned from politics and his once-dominant Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party was disbanded.
Thaksin has remained in self-imposed exile since the coup.
His allies regrouped under the banner of the PPP and won last month's polls even with most of their strongholds still under martial law since the putsch.
A PPP government is widely expected to welcome Thaksin back to Thailand, though many questions remain about how that would happen.
RSS