BANGKOK (The Straits Times/ANN): The Thai government survived a no-confidence motion in Parliament on Friday (Feb 28) following four days of intense censure debate targeting six top government officials including Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan received 277 votes of confidence against 59; Deputy Prime Minister Wisanu Krea-ngam had 272 votes of confidence against 54; Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda 272 against 54; Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai 272 against 55; and Deputy Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow 269 against 55.
The censure debate focused on controversial issues - from graft allegations, the sluggish economy which last year saw the gross domestic product grow at only 2.4 per cent, and also the handling of the coronavirus outbreak, among other things. From a razor-thin majority of 251 seats in the 500-member Lower House, the government of Prayut now has 273 seats.
Those receiving fewer votes like Thamanat, considered by analysts as the weakest link because of his four-year imprisonment in Australia in the 1990s for drug trafficking, could be replaced, said Dr Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political science professor at Sukhothai Thammathirat University. During the debate, Prayut was criticised for leading the 2014 coup, for which he defended, saying it was necessary to restore peace and order amid massive demonstrations against the Yingluck Shinawatra administration.
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