Thailand's king officially endorsed a pugnacious ally of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the country's new leader yesterday, paving the way for the return of a democratically elected government after a 2006 military coup.
Samak Sundaravej, head of the People's Power Party (PPP), was elected prime minister by lawmakers on Monday -- a choice that could put the new government on a collision course with the generals who toppled Thaksin for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
"The king has endorsed Samak as prime minister," PPP spokesman Kuthep Saikrajang said yesterday.
APPROVAL
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, requiring King Bhumibol Adulyadej to officially endorse the prime minister and cabinet before they take up their posts.
Following the king's approval, Samak's six-party coalition will discuss cabinet appointments, a process that could take up to two weeks, Kuthep said.
Samak easily beat Democrat party candidate Abhisit Vejjejava by 310 votes to 163 in parliament on Monday, but analysts fear the election of a Thaksin ally may further divide a country that has struggled to regain its footing since the coup.
PROXY
Samak has made no secret that he is Thaksin's proxy, saying in an interview: "I have to bring [Thaksin] back to the limelight. We will use the same policies."
"It is likely to be a turbulent premiership ahead," said Panithan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
Samak, a hot-tempered right-wing firebrand, has appealed a two-year jail sentence for defaming a deputy Bangkok governor and is the subject of an ongoing corruption investigation from when he was Bangkok governor from 2001 to 2004.
Analysts say his political fortunes will wax or wane in line with those of Thaksin, who has vowed to return from exile in May to face a slew of corruption charges.
Samak's party, a new group backed by Thaksin, won the largest number of seats in general elections last month.
Samak has assembled a six-party coalition with about two-thirds of the 480 seats in parliament's lower house.
But he faces the suspicions of Thaksin's powerful foes -- the military that toppled him and the country's elite, including some associated with the monarchy.
The military tried without success to lessen the former prime minister's extensive influence after toppling him on Sept. 19, 2006.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
‘HARD-HEADED’: Some people did not evacuate to protect their property or because they were skeptical of the warnings, a disaster agency official said Typhoon Man-yi yesterday slammed into the Philippines’ most populous island, with the national weather service warning of flooding, landslides and huge waves as the storm sweeps across the archipelago nation. Man-yi was still packing maximum sustained winds of 185kph after making its first landfall late on Saturday on lightly populated Catanduanes island. More than 1.2 million people fled their homes ahead of Man-yi as the weather forecaster warned of a “life-threatening” effect from the powerful storm, which follows an unusual streak of violent weather. Man-yi uprooted trees, brought down power lines and smashed flimsy houses to pieces after hitting Catanduanes in the typhoon-prone
HOPEFUL FOR PEACE: Zelenskiy said that the war would ‘end sooner’ with Trump and that Ukraine must do all it can to ensure the fighting ends next year Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom early yesterday suspended gas deliveries via Ukraine, Vienna-based utility OMV said, in a development that signals a fast-approaching end of Moscow’s last gas flows to Europe. Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it would not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia now only
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un renewed his call for a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear program to counter US-led threats in comments reported yesterday that were his first direct criticism toward Washington since US president-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory on Oct. 6. At a conference with army officials on Friday, Kim condemned the US for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea and solidifying three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian NATO” that was escalating tensions and instability in the region. Kim also criticized the US over its support of Ukraine against a prolonged Russian invasion.
RSS