Bangkok - Thailand's coalition government on Saturday
survived a no-confidence motion in parliament that delivered few
solid punches against five ministers in the four-month-old cabinet.
The lower house voted 246 to 176 in favour of Thai Prime Minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva, Finance Minister Korn Chatikanaij and two other
ministers.
But the vote of confidence for Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya
was only 237 to 184.
Kasit was heavily criticized in the two-day censure debate for his
close links with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) that held
six months of protests last year that culminated in the closure of
Bangkok's two international airports.
Kasit, a member of the ruling Democrat Party led by Abhisit, was
appointed foreign minister despite his open support for the PAD, that
presented itself as a non-partisan movement.
Other PAD leaders are under investigation for the illegal closure
of the airports, a move that cost the country billions of dollars in
forfeited tourism and export revenues.
Abhisit easily denied old accusations that he avoided conscription
in the army, and dodged an allegation that the Democrat party covered
up the receipt of a 263 million baht (36 million dollars) of campaign
contribution from or large Thai petrochemicals company in 2005.
Few expected the censure motion to succeed, as the young coalition
government has yet to show signs of serious cracks between the
partners.
The coalition has the backing of the politically powerful army
Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paojinda and other powerful
figures within Thailand's political elite.
The rise of the Democrat-led government is deemed a return of
Thailand's traditional multi-polar power sharing arrangement between
the military, aristocrats-cum-bureaucrats and the political parties
after the system was seriously challenged by populist prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin, an entrepreneur who made his personal fortune off
government telecommunications concessions, was prime minister between
2001 to 2006, during which time he used populist policies to secure
the vote of Thailand's rural and urban poor while monopolizing his
grip of power and pursuing self-serving economic policies.
He was toppled by a coup on September 19, 2006, and is currently
living in self-exile to avoid a two-year jail sentence at home on an
abuse-of-power charge.
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