Thailand’s Parliament elected a brother-in-law of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister on Wednesday, ensuring continued tension with protesters who accuse the new government of being Thaksin’s puppet.
Somchai Wongsawat (61), a former judge and government bureaucrat married to Thaksin’s younger sister, won a clear majority of parliamentary votes as the six-party ruling coalition held firm.
He had been acting prime minister since Samak Sundaravej, whom the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) also accused of being an agent for Thaksin, was sacked by a court last week for hosting TV cooking shows while in office.
Just an hour after being elected, the bespectacled and soft-spoken Somchai called for national reconciliation to end the political crisis that dates back to the PAD’s first attacks on Thaksin in late 2005. Its campaign played a major part in the coup that followed in 2006.
”It is time for Thailand to reconcile. We do not hate each other, so we should not let hatred prevent us from tackling the immediate problems the country is facing,” he told reporters.
His words are likely to fall on deaf ears, with the PAD immediately labelling him a ”Thaksin nominee” and vowing to continue its three-week occupation of the prime minister’s official compound.
”We really don’t care. This is just a group of bandits choosing a new leader,” PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told reporters.
Somchai’s wife, one of 111 Thaksin-linked politicians banned from politics for five years after the coup, has been accused of links to dodgy deals at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi airport, charges she denies.
However, analysts said that, and his obvious family ties to Thaksin, would provide ammunition for the PAD and opposition Democrat party against a man otherwise seen as bland, inoffensive and lacking in charisma.
”Being Thaksin’s brother-in-law is the weak point that the PAD will keep hammering away at,” political commentator Sukhum Nualskul said.
Checking in
With the PAD refusing to budge from the Government House compound, Somchai will work out of Bangkok’s old Don Muang airport, where his aides have set up temporary offices.
Showing an intention to get down to business, he said he will meet financial regulators to discuss the impact of the United States financial crisis on the country. The central bank has already said Thailand’s banking system remains strong.
He also said he wants to see out the government’s four-year term, ending in 2012, although few analysts anticipate either him or his administration lasting anything near that long.
Separately on Wednesday, a court said it was postponing a ruling on corruption charges against Thaksin and his wife Potjaman, who skipped bail and fled to London last month.
The pair have both denied any wrongdoing in a Bangkok land deal put under the microscope by graft investigators appointed in the wake of the coup. — Reuters