Thailand was on edge yesterday on the eve of a vote for a new prime minister, with the opposition party still confident of a win despite a last-minute intervention by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Billionaire Thaksin, toppled in a 2006 military coup, weighed in from exile late on Saturday, accusing the army of interfering in politics.
Members of parliament (MPs) will choose Thailand’s third prime minister in four months today, with opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on the verge of the winning after the pro-Thaksin government was brought down by court order and hit by defections.
Abhisit’s Democrat Party and Thaksin’s allies were engaged in fierce last-minute lobbying to win over a handful of undecided .
“The more [Thaksin] talks, it makes MPs feel uncomfortable. This is not about betrayal — it is about a decision for the nation,” Democrat Secretary-General Suthep Tuagsuban said. “I am confident that Abhisit will receive more than half of the parliamentarians’ votes and can form the government.”
Thaksin gave a pre-recorded video address shown at a Bangkok stadium to about 50,000 supporters bedecked in bright red, saying there would be no end to Thailand’s political strife if the generals keep meddling.
“At the moment the army is interfering ... Those people who interfere in forming the government must stop and withdraw,” he said.
Thaksin, who is living in an undisclosed foreign location to dodge graft charges, said the military was behind the defection of former ruling coalition lawmakers who have now backed the British-born Abhisit.
Army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd yesterday denied that the military had a hand in the political horse-trading, as parties jostle to fill the power vacuum left by the dissolution of the People Power Party (PPP).
“We are not interfering in politics. We say only that it is parliament’s duty and whatever the decision is, they should think about the nation first and foremost,” he told reporters.
Police say they will have about 1,200 officers on duty outside parliament for the special session today in case of protests by Thaksin supporters. They say the army will be called in if there are any clashes.
The political maneuvers follow six months of protests by the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which peaked with a week-long blockade of Bangkok’s airports beginning late last month.
The turmoil left 350,000 passengers stranded and badly hurt Thailand’s economy, with GDP growth forecast at 2 percent next year.
The PAD ended the airport siege after a court on Dec. 2 dissolved the PPP and handed a five-year political ban to then-prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is Thaksin’s brother-in-law.
Thaksin’s allies have regrouped in the newly formed Puea Thai (For Thais) party and insist that they can still form a government when the members of parliament vote.
“The race will be very neck and neck — we will win by eight or 10 votes,” said Chalerm Yoobamrung, a Puea Thai member who was health minister under the PPP-led government.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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