Thailand's House of Representatives voted on Friday to reject a no-confidence motion put forward by the opposition Democrat Party against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and seven other cabinet members following a three-day censure debate.
The motion was rejected after a balloting that started around 10:30 a.m. local time Friday. Samak, as PM and Defence Minister, got 280 confidence vote and 162 no-confidence votes from the total of 442 members of parliament present.
Similar voting results were indicated with the seven other targeted cabinet members -- Deputy PM and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Deputy PM and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan, Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat, Transport Minister Santi Prompat, Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri, and Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama.
The seven and the premier all belong to the People Power Party (PPP), the core party of the six-party coalition government which took office just four months ago.
Friday's ballot followed a censure debate which kicked off on Tuesday and lasted a longer-than-scheduled three days until late Thursday night.
The Democrat Party has cast dozens of MPs to grill the cabinet members' performance, which it described as "ineffective and destructive to the country" for failing to ease domestic economic hardship and political turmoil.
The voting result was widely expected as the PPP and the other five partner parties in the coalition government hold nearly two-thirds of the 480 seats in the House.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article