Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and five ministers yesterday easily survived a vote of no confidence called by the opposition following a two-day debate on allegations of corruption.
The censure motion against the premier failed with 246 members of parliament voting for him and 176 against.
“Therefore the prime minister remains in his position,” House Speaker Chai Chidchob said.
The censure motion accused Abhisit of certifying false party financial statements, and alleged that his Democrat Party had received millions of dollars in illegal donations and illegally distributed funds from the electoral commission.
Abhisit said he was pleased with the outcome and immediately dismissed suggestions he would reshuffle the Cabinet.
“Nothing needs to change. I will carry on working as I gained the vote of confidence from parliament,” he said.
Abhisit had been named in the motion alongside Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, his deputy Pradit Patharaprasit, Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul and his deputy Boonchong Wongtrairat.
Of the six men, Kasit had been in most danger of being forced out because of his support for protesters who forced the closure of Bangkok’s airports last year.
But he won the popular vote yesterday by a slightly smaller margin than the other four ministers — 237 voted for him with 184 votes against.
“It’s not a problem ... every minister gained more than a 234-vote simple majority,” Abhisit told a reporter who questioned Kasit’s future.
The foreign minister himself took the news of his success with humility and thanked those who voted for him.
“I don’t mind that I gained less support as all lawmakers are free to vote, but I will have to be more careful in my work,” he said.
The two-day censure debate had been led by allies of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and was always likely to fail.
The Democrats have 170 seats out of 465 in parliament, but can count on the support of around 70 coalition partners. The main opposition Puea Thai (For Thais) party has 182 seats.
Opposition Member of Parliament Chalerm Yoobumrung, who led the censure debate for the Puea Thai party, said he was not surprised by the result.
“It was expected that the government would receive enough support... under democratic rule how can you make all people agree on the same issue?” he said.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
RSS