ABHISIT ADMINISTRATION FLOODED WITH NEW CHALLENGES

BANGKOK, Oct 21 (Bernama) – While the nation is being hit by the flood, the Abhisit administration is not spared from being flooded with new challenges too.


This time the challenges did not come from outside such as the
anti-government protesters but within the coalition partners, the Bhumjaithai Party
and the prime minister's party itself, the Democrat which leads the coalition
government.

The Bhumjaithai Party leader Chavarat Charnvirakul, who is also the Interior
Minister, on Wednesday dropped a bombshell that the party was willing to leave
the coalition if they were no longer needed.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday that any party which felt
uncomfortable being in the coalition was free to leave although he did not name
any party.

It is an open secret that the remark was aimed at the Bhumjaithai following
influential leaders from the Bhumjaithai expressing "discomfort" with the way
Democrat treated the party leader.

Chavarat's ministry is currently at the centre of the alleged 3.4 billion Baht
corruption involving computer leasing deal at his ministry.

Since taking over the helm of the country in late 2008, Abhisit had
introduced his "iron rules", nine ethical standards including against graft in
ensuring a clean government and he still stood by the commitment today.

He told Parliament last Friday that he would rather risk his political survival
than condoning corruption.

"I have always enforced my iron rules and will not compromise my standards for
the sake of saving my government." he said.

In defending his action, Abhisit said that his Democrat party had no intention
to hurt Bhumjaithai or kick the party out but would not condone corruption for
the government to survive.

The investigation into the alleged corruption is expected to be completed next
month.

Democrat holds 171 seats while Bhumjaithai is the leading coalition partner with
32 seats in the eight-party coalition government.

On the other hand, Opposition Pheu Thai Party has 188 seats in the 474
parliamentary seats.

Can the Abhisit administration stay in the office without Bhumjaithai?

The prime minister is confident it could still cling to power based on the
number of supporting MPs.

The challenges from the Democrat itself came into the limelight last week
following revelation by the opposition on video clips posted on social media
network, Youtube, claiming a man who looked like a Democrat MP was negotiating
with a Constitution Court President's senior officer.

Democrat is in the midst of fighting a legal battle at the Constitution Court
following an allegation that the party had misused 29 million Baht granted in
2005 from the Election Commission's political development fund.

If found guilty, the 64-year old Democrat is facing a possible dissolution of
the party as well as the banning of its executives who held position in 2005
from politics for five years.

Abhisit, who was the party's leader in 2005, insisted recently that the party
had never intervened in the judicial process adding that the party would conduct
an investigation into the video clips.

The Constitution Court too would investigate the matter and yesterday assured
the public of its neutrality and independence in handling the case against the
Democrat.

In fact, the Constitution Court senior officer allegedly caught in the scandal
would be removed from the post and face investigation.

The Abhisit administration survived the 10-week protest staged by the
anti-government Red Shirts in May and the ensuing vote of no-confidence in
Parliament the following month.

As the current flood did not show signs of receding in most parts of the
country, the Abhisit administration too has to surf the strong political tide as
the present government term ends in December next year.