Abhisit Vejjajiva Elected New Prime Minister Of Thailand

[pichai]

I congratulate Abhisit being elected as 27th Prime Minister of Thailand. The road ahead is difficult, hope he can hold on to it. Both the Red & Yellow shirts should keep cool and allow him to work for the good of the country. Should any group come out to protest again, Thailand will be ruined.

[rayw]

Wonderful news and he at least initially appears to be a decent, honest, sincere and well educated guy, indeed a ray of light in the darkness. I wish him well, he has a tough job ahead of him.

As a guy who was educated at Oxford I wonder whether he will be kinder to falangs living here legally and honestly in LOS. On a purely selfish note it would be great if he allowed at least retirees (and of any age) to own their own houses, albeit with a limited small amount of land say reasonably under 400 square wah or even half of that. Anyway the main thing is for now the well being of this country and its people, and its prosperous future. This is hope at last for the Thai people and I hope a final goodbye to the destructive megalomaniac Toxin (though sadly I somehow doubt it)

[animatic]

These politicians were not voted in by the Thai people and neither was the new Prime Minister, there should be new elections called for. This would also inject billions of bart into the country as the corrupt officials would have to spend some of their stolen money by trying to buy votes again. I would bet that UDD would win by a landslide again.

You clearly show you don't understand things.

UDD is a street organization and is NOT, nor ever has been a political party.

ALL these current politicians have been voted into office by the people.

or at least were NOT caught red-handed corruptly getting into office.

Only the coalition changed, because one side LOST elected politicians;

lost it's PM and many of it's cabinet members and the whole party entity,

enough to warrant a change in coalition make up. This was then voted on today.

If Pheu Thai had won the vote, THEN you could say this party was not elected.

Because the members, ALL of the members were voted in, in a now defunct party,

and are NOW in a party that NEVER CONTESTED AN ELECTION.

Pheu Thai never existed at the last election,

so how can IT be voted into power as a colaition leader?

yes other new parties switched sides, but they are not the lead government forming party.

Also their members were elected, soi vote as individuals for an elected man in an elected party.

2nd winning parties get to form governments around the world regularly,

when the 1st winner is not able to.

This change of government is quite legal, the elected body

that decides who forms a government, has just voted.

It's now the Dems.

Edited December 15, 2008 by animatic

[Dario]

The red shirt people have ransacked and demolished several cars of Democrat MPs outside Government House. It is to hope that if Suthep Tuegsuban is elected Interior Minister that such things will not happen anymore. If the new government is lean with those mobsters it will go down the drain very quickly.

Protesting is allowed by the Constitution, but not ransacking property. For such criminals water trucks should be positioned and the force of water must be applied without mercy.

[auserb]

well, well I think, it is time for our red shirts to come out and do the best they can!!!!!

I think he will last couple of weeks only and I do hope so

[grandpops]

Anyone care to speculate as to how the PAD will react? Will this be enough to keep them from causing any more disruptions?

I wouldn't be concerned with PAD reaction, but rather with the Red Team's. I'm afraid they are capable as yellow one, to cause havoc and disruptions.

As I hope society in general will do - Perhaps its time for TV red shirts and yellow shirts to put the shirts back in the closet for a while, and try to work for the good of the country. A new party in power with a new elected PM deserve time to announce their policies and implement them.

So, now the PAD and the Army have forced the elected Governments from power and put their puppet in place, after I might Add, two years of blatant gerrymandering, poison court decisions, a new charter in the Democrats favour, you expect the rest of the country to fall in behind this sheep!

His first priorities will certainly be to the PAD supporters that are going to be hit hard by the recesion they exacerbated with their facist action.

Happy honeymoon to him, but he is not up to the task. Watch this space!

[Robbie Dye]

Sincerest congratulations both to K Abhisit and to the Democratic Party, I personally have been hoping that they would get their chance since the coup, and hopefully this will see off K Thaksin for good. I believe there may be more favourable attitudes to farang issues as well.

[george]

PM-elect Abhisit thanks MPs and people

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister-elect Abhisit Vejjajiva thanked all MPs and people who supported him to be the prime minister. Speaking after winning over Pheu Pandin leader Pracha Promnok in the parliament, Abhisit said he would like to extend his thankfulness to the MPs who voted for him and the people who have trusts in him.

He declined to comment on current political situation, saying he would wait until he got royal endorsement.

-- The Nation 2008-12-15

[mrphil]

BREAKING NEWS:

Abhisit Vejjajiva elected new Prime Minister of Thailand

Abhisit Vejjajiva elected new PM

BANGKOK: -- Opposition Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva wins a majority with 235 - 198 votes to become Thailands 27th premier

-- MCOT 2008-12-15 at 10:57

That is good news. Congratulations to Abhisit Vejjajiva.

I hope he can 'stay the course'.

Actually I am feeling quite optimistic now, with Obama taking over from Bush as well.

Better enjoy it while it lasts !

[samgrowth]

I wonder how long it will be until we see the airports over run with red shirts????

The red has no guts to take the airport. They have no strong backers left in the country.

[prakhonchai nick]

In most situations when a winner is disqualified, the runner-up is promoted to winner.

For rather obscure reasons, despite being disqualified the ex PPP party members were permitted to change parties and still qualify as MP's. STRANGE!!

But it must be remembered that the PPP failed to control the government without the help of coalition parties. After all the shenanigan of the past year with 2 useless PM,'s it is not unreasonable for some of the coalition parties to decide to change their allegiances. Having done so, todays parliamentary vote was entirely democratic. Never mind talk of the involvement of the military behind the scenes (whether true or not); that is or would have been nothing compared to the constant intervention of Takkers, a convicted criminal on the run!

Good luck to Abhisit. If he can just ratchet up his strength a little bit, and move a little closer to the strength displayed by Barack Obama, we could well see a Democrat government for a long time, and a truly progressive democratic and corruption free Thailand.

[gerrythepoet]

"Abhisit proposes to fix that by amending the constitution should he assume the PM post. That could mean yet another referendum." Time magazine interview.

His thoughts from when he thought he was going to walk into power on the back of the last military set up.

Hope he has the balls to tell PAD and the generals/elite clique where to go and change the constitution back to the agreed 97(?) model. If he can achieve that and deliver his promised education and other reforms to the Isaan people then he maybe a very good solution for the present mess. I wish him the best of luck.

Any glimmer of hope to keep LOS from sinking into an abyss would be certainly welcome by all. The real problem is satisfying the "shirts" or rent a mob.

There is free speech and then there is chaos this is where we need the right model to bring common sense back into the picture and not just keep thinking recesssion is not really going to affect Thailand. It will and when it does scapegoats need to be found.

The new PM has a tough job but to me he has good credentials to make use of and probably being charming to the Police and Army will take more than a firm handshake.

[dave9988]

Congratulations to Abhisit Vejjajiva! May your premiership be longlived and may you gather more strength and wisdom every coming day to weather this storm.

is there a conflict of interest in his support of the PAD terrorists and the army's support of him ?

Edited December 15, 2008 by dave9988

[samgrowth]

I wish him all the best. But, does that mean PAD will never be punished for what they have done to the Country?

The yellow cannot be punished. They are the law. Don't forget that Sondhi is squeezing the new PM balls.

[samgrowth]

Ah, Democracy in action!

Lose an election, take over government house, blockade airports, wreck tourism, get prime ministership.

Neat!

The new PM should call fresh elections under the rule, one person, one vote, no pork barrelling of any kind (only joking ,Australia and the US never use pork barrelling tactics, yeah, right!!!) and abide by the result

And I suppose you infer that fresh elections would be democratic and without massive amounts of 500 baht notes being distributed by Thaksin to secure the election?

And I suppose you would infer that the "vote buying" for Parliamentary conversions, as reported by the Bangkok Post and The Nation are not a problem. This is the same game only at a higher level. Will the courts now have a new "vote buying" scandal to decide upon.

I doubt it, I don't think "MP buying" is illegal in Thailand, just vote buying.

I second that. No law against MP buying in Thailand.

[auserb]

I wonder how long it will be until we see the airports over run with red shirts????

The red has no guts to take the airport. They have no strong backers left in the country.

you'd be surprise my friend

Red shirts will be out sooooooooon in thousands

trust me, and I hope they do.....

[wasabi]

Very good choice. This is the first time I have been impressed with Thailand in a long time.

[samgrowth]

I think this is very good news for the country.

The man looks clean and also looks that he might have a brain (which is more than one could say of the past 4-5 in the chair, Surayod excepted)

Providing he is given the good will of the majority of the realm's citizens Thailand now has a chance to turn the corner.

The very best of good luck to him.

I agree that the man looks clean, and I believe that he is clean. SO IS CHUAN. What bought Chuan down are his team mates.

With Newin and Sondhi (amoung others) as Apisit team mates, he will be brought down soon, just like Chuan.

[MyphuketLife]

Nice CV, but distinctly lacking in real jobs*. He's managed to get to age 44 without any hard graft and early mornings, beyond the greasy pole of politics.

*Apart from his spell as a teacher of course.

I notice that his Mother and Father and wife all have the same surname. A little aristocratic cousin-ly inbreeding perhaps like the Roosevelts ? ....just a coincidence? Or something more??

Uh, I think you will find that most people here has parents with same last name as well as with their partner...the effect of marriage.

exactly, my mom and dad share the same surname, and once married my wife’s surname changed to my family surname... does not imply inbreeding at all.

[samgrowth]

These politicians were not voted in by the Thai people and neither was the new Prime Minister, there should be new elections called for. This would also inject billions of bart into the country as the corrupt officials would have to spend some of their stolen money by trying to buy votes again. I would bet that UDD would win by a landslide again.

Like PAD, UDD is not a party and cannot win election.

[NanLaew]

How come when former TRT/PPP people get 'elected' by their horse-trading peers, it's the end of the world as we know it but when we have a DEM/PAD person similarly 'elected' by their horse-trading peers, it's all to the good of the country?

Anyone?

Answers on a postcard to...

[trianglechoke]

Now now guys. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

New, young, handsome, educated, suit just fits like a glove..... Sounds like someone who Thais would find it very easy to believe regardless of what he says and by then it's too late!!!

Let's have a look at the first harvest before we assume the crops are going to be delicious.

[samgrowth]

I congratulate Abhisit being elected as 27th Prime Minister of Thailand. The road ahead is difficult, hope he can hold on to it. Both the Red & Yellow shirts should keep cool and allow him to work for the good of the country. Should any group come out to protest again, Thailand will be ruined.

And Pokemon will be 28th.

Just like Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, he doesn't want his son to take straight from him. So he has the half wit Goh Chok Tong to fill it in between, so that it doesn't look too obvious that a dynasty is passing down power.

[MyphuketLife]

I wonder how long it will be until we see the airports over run with red shirts????

The red has no guts to take the airport. They have no strong backers left in the country.

Either they have no guts or they are smart enough to realize that is not the actions people should use? In either case I just hope they don’t get the “guts” or become “stupid enough” to follow in the PAD’s destructive footsteps. As taking those actions would only damage the country more.

[TAWP]

These politicians were not voted in by the Thai people and neither was the new Prime Minister, there should be new elections called for. This would also inject billions of bart into the country as the corrupt officials would have to spend some of their stolen money by trying to buy votes again. I would bet that UDD would win by a landslide again.

Ehh...what? =)

Every MP was voted into parlament via an election, that is how they get there.

Nice try however.

[jamesjdaly]

Oh happy, happy days!!! The future can only get better.

[TAWP]

I wonder how long it will be until we see the airports over run with red shirts????

The red has no guts to take the airport. They have no strong backers left in the country.

you'd be surprise my friend

Red shirts will be out sooooooooon in thousands

trust me, and I hope they do.....

So you are hoping for violence...nice...

[PhilHarries]

Why is everyone writing Thaksin off!! Do you think he is going to just lie down and go away. Not in a million years.

He will never go away not all the time he has a breath of life within him. He will continue to prod and poke from the safety of his new lair wherever that might be. Be prepared for some big shows of strength from his followers and some days of disruption. I hope I am wrong but that guy is Thailand's gypsy's curse and he will not be satisfied until he is back in power even if it wrecks the country he professes to love.

Best of luck to the new PM. To my mind one of his main priorities is going to be to show the rural poor of the northeast that he is their man as much as that of the middle class of Bangkok. Win over the support, or even some kind of acceptance, of those people and he has a chance to make it.

[samgrowth]

The red shirt people have ransacked and demolished several cars of Democrat MPs outside Government House. It is to hope that if Suthep Tuegsuban is elected Interior Minister that such things will not happen anymore. If the new government is lean with those mobsters it will go down the drain very quickly.

Protesting is allowed by the Constitution, but not ransacking property. For such criminals water trucks should be positioned and the force of water must be applied without mercy.

Obvious that this comment come from the yellow.

Let say the police / army control the situation, and a 15 years boy die. It will be Athens in Bangkok.

[thecottonmill]

Excellent choice. 1st class PPE degree from Oxford? This is not just a rich boy but a very clever rich boy! Which mean of course that he could be dangerous but let's hope he puts that background to good use.

Personally I think he'll do great things as long as he isn't corrupted by the old guard (on both sides of the political spectrum) and distracted by the existing mess. It'll take more than one man and certainly more than one term but he can certainly start things rolling in the right direction! Good luck to him.