Samak "blames" Thaksin for political predicament

"On board flying back (from Kuala Lumpur), I closed my eyes and thought - if there was no Thaksin forming the political party, our country would not be in the political mayhem," he said at the Suvarnabhumi Airport on Thursday's night.

It is still unclear whether Samak was being sarcastic.

Samak denied speculation that he would call a snap election after the charter rewrite.

He said the revised charter would not take effect until the next government came into power.

He cited precedents from the promulgation of the 1997 Constitution, completed under the Chavalit Yongchaiyud administration but enforced by the Thaksin government.

He said the problem about the suspended charter arose because Thaksin implemented the charter provisions, lamenting that the country would be in a better shape if the transitional Chuan Leekpai government launched the charter instead of Thaksin.

Chuan was the stop-gap prime minister after Chavalit resigned in 1997.

The Nation