BANGKOK, Oct 2: At least 70 members of parliament from ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s political party quit on Monday, less than two weeks after he was deposed in a bloodless military coup.
Led by former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Labour Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, the mass resignations could be the first sign of the break-up of Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai political juggernaut.
Thaksin himself, who was in New York during the coup, is in exile in London following the Sept 19 seizure of power by army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin.
Thai Rak Thai, which means Thais Love Thais, had dominated the political landscape for the last five years, with electoral landslides in 2001 and 2005 based on cheap public healthcare and rural credit.
At the height of its power after the 2005 general election, it had three-quarters of 500 seats in parliament.
“We want to promote national reconciliation and avoid confrontation to help the country return to normal quickly,” Police Lieutenant-Colonel Banyin Tangphakorn, a former Thai Rak Thai MP from the north-central province of Nakorn Sawan, told reporters.
Banyin said he expected at least a few more dozen Thai Rak Thai politicians to quit the party this week.
TANKS REMOVED: Meanwhile, tanks and troops were removed off the streets of the Thai capital.
Surayud told reporters on Monday that he would travel to the restive region after the formation of a 35-member cabinet, expected in about a week.
In his first day in office, Surayud met with U.S. Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce and received blessings and Buddhist amulets from the country’s senior ranking Buddhist monk, 93-year-old Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara.
While Surayud reaffirmed the government’s commitment to elections in one year, a temporary constitution approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej reserves considerable powers for Thailand’s coup makers, unnerving rights activists.
The military council gave itself the power to remove Surayud and his Cabinet, approve the selection of a National Assembly speaker.—Reuters/AP
