ID :
40175
Mon, 01/12/2009 - 12:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/40175
The shortlink copeid
THAI PM'S ALLIES WIN BY-ELECTIONS AND BANGKOK GOVERNOR POST
Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- Thailand's new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
received a timely boost when his Democrat party won the Bangkok Governor post
while his coalition partners won 20 of the 29 parliament seats contested in the
by-elections held Sunday.
Democrat candidate Sukhumbhand Paribatra received more than 910,000 votes to
win the Governor post, beating popular actor Yuranan Phamornmontree of the Pheu
Thai Party who got almost 600,000 votes.
Pheu Thai was founded by supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra after their People Power Party (PPP) was dissolved by the court in
December.
The governor race was held after Democrat's Apirak Kosayodhin, who won a
second term in October last year, quit the post to clear his name upon being
implicated in a corruption case.
Election Commission chairman Apichart Sukhagkanan said the Democrat won
seven seats, its new ally Chart Thai Pattana 10 and Puea Pandin three, while the
opposition's Pheu Thai and Pracharaj took five and four respectively.
With the unofficial results, Democrat and its coalition partners control 255
seats in the 480-seat parliament while the opposition has 195.
PPP had won the 2007 election but could hardly govern the country smoothly
following the six months of street protests by the People's Alliance for
Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin movement that claimed the party was a proxy of
the former premier who lives in exile after being sentenced to two years in
jail for power abuse.
PAD seized the prime minister's office in August last year and closed
Bangkok's two major airports in November.
After PPP was dissolved by the Constitution Court and Prime Minister Somchai
Wongsawat banned from politics for five years, Abhisit managed to secure enough
support to be elected as the country's 27th prime minister last December, and
the fifth in three years.
The election results are expected to give Abhisit the much needed boost and
strengthen his fragile government.
-- BERNAMA
BANGKOK, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- Thailand's new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
received a timely boost when his Democrat party won the Bangkok Governor post
while his coalition partners won 20 of the 29 parliament seats contested in the
by-elections held Sunday.
Democrat candidate Sukhumbhand Paribatra received more than 910,000 votes to
win the Governor post, beating popular actor Yuranan Phamornmontree of the Pheu
Thai Party who got almost 600,000 votes.
Pheu Thai was founded by supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra after their People Power Party (PPP) was dissolved by the court in
December.
The governor race was held after Democrat's Apirak Kosayodhin, who won a
second term in October last year, quit the post to clear his name upon being
implicated in a corruption case.
Election Commission chairman Apichart Sukhagkanan said the Democrat won
seven seats, its new ally Chart Thai Pattana 10 and Puea Pandin three, while the
opposition's Pheu Thai and Pracharaj took five and four respectively.
With the unofficial results, Democrat and its coalition partners control 255
seats in the 480-seat parliament while the opposition has 195.
PPP had won the 2007 election but could hardly govern the country smoothly
following the six months of street protests by the People's Alliance for
Democracy (PAD), an anti-Thaksin movement that claimed the party was a proxy of
the former premier who lives in exile after being sentenced to two years in
jail for power abuse.
PAD seized the prime minister's office in August last year and closed
Bangkok's two major airports in November.
After PPP was dissolved by the Constitution Court and Prime Minister Somchai
Wongsawat banned from politics for five years, Abhisit managed to secure enough
support to be elected as the country's 27th prime minister last December, and
the fifth in three years.
The election results are expected to give Abhisit the much needed boost and
strengthen his fragile government.
-- BERNAMA
