Samak gets the coalition nod as 25th PM

Six coalition parties yesterday toed the line and voted for People Power Party leader Samak Sundaravej as the country's 25th prime minister.

Samak beat Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, nominated by his party's former leader Banyat Bantadtan, by 310 to 163 votes.

The PPP's secretary-general, Surapong Suebwonglee, nominated Samak as its candidate.

The result of the voting showed that three MPs abstained, including Samak and Abhisit and one absentee. The roll call vote was held after MPs disputed for more than two hours whether each candidate for prime minister should be allowed to outline their policies and reveal their vision and leadership.

Former deputy Senate speaker Nipon Wisityuthasat reasoned that the Lower House should follow in the footsteps of the Senate, which requires candidates for Senate speaker to reveal their vision.

"The post of prime minister is significant. The PM must have maturity, transparency and integrity. He should not have any legal court cases,'' he said.

Other Democrats supported Nipon's call for Parliament to let the candidates to be PM speak their minds.

"We want to know if the PM candidates will dissolve the Assets Examination Committee, or will he grant amnesty to 111 former Thai Rak Thai Party executives? The nominee [Samak] was sentenced to 24 months in jail for defamation and the case is under appeal. And what will happen if he is convicted in the corruption case over the purchase of fire fighting equipment?'' he said.

The calls for PM candidates to spell out their goals met resistance and protest from People Power MPs such as Chatuporn Prompan, who said any censure against the PM must be carried out after and not before their nomination. MPs voted 306 to 145 not to have the candidates for PM reveal their vision and spell out policy priorities.

House Speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat will request Royal endorsement for Samak to be the next premier.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called on PM-elect Samak to immediately restore business and social confidence.

"The problem that must be solved soon is price rises. The public has high expectations for this government to reduce prices. We will ask the government for a timeline on what it plans to do on that,'' he said.

Abhisit, as Opposition leader, vowed to censure the government if there were irregularities in its administration right from the beginning. He said the Democrats would form a team to check the government by the end of the month.

Abhisit praised Yongyuth for performing his duties as House Speaker smoothly and carefully on his first day. "If he performs in the same manner in the next House meetings, then it'll be fine,'' he said.

The Nation