Ex-Thai opposition leader becomes PM

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-16 08:01

Thai opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva became the country's third prime minister in as many months Monday, taking control with a slender majority in parliament and an economy teetering on the brink of recession.

In a sign of the trouble in store for the Oxford-educated economist, 200 supporters of the government sacked by the courts two weeks ago blocked access to parliament after the vote and smashed windows of cars carrying MPs from his Democrat Party.

Chanting Abhisit, army nominee, the red-shirted demonstrators denounced the 44-year-old as a front man for the military, which ousted elected leader Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 and which has been accused of political meddling ever since.

Abhisit was backed by 235 MPs against 198 for the former government's candidate, but his thin majority is likely to take a hit on Jan 11 when by-elections are held to replace 29 MPs fired in this month's court ruling.

Relying on small parties and a breakaway faction of the pro-Thaksin Puea Thai party, he will have little room for manoeuvre as the global slowdown and the recent blockade of Bangkok's airports by anti-Thaksin protesters hit the tourism- and export-driven economy.

"Very soon, the impact of the global economic crisis will be felt more seriously in Thailand. The new prime minister needs to prepare immediately for that," Sompop Manarungsan of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said.

Outgoing Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech has forecast economic contraction of 0.5-1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from a year earlier and zero growth in the second, putting it on the brink of recession.

"There are no new bookings. You go to the hotels and they are empty," Luzi Matzig, managing director of travel agency Asian Trails, said of the double blow from the airport shutdowns and economic downturn.

Abhisit declined to talk about policies after the vote, but said last week that reviving growth through increased government spending would be his top priority, although it remains to be seen where he will get the money from.

He has suggested there could be some reallocation of regional spending, but that would be sure to outrage voters in the populous north and northeast, where love of Thaksin and loathing of Abhisit runs deep.

Thaksin's passport revoked

Hours after Abhisit's election, the Foreign Ministry announced it had revoked Thaksin's diplomatic passport on Friday, and may also withdraw his regular passport.

Thaksin has spent time in Hong Kong, Beijing and Dubai since Britain cancelled his visa in November after his conviction in absentia on conflict of interest charges in Thailand.