Thailand's PM Prayuth survives no-confidence vote

BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha and nine cabinet ministers survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament today.

Opposition parties began the four-day censure debate on Tuesday, against Prayuth and nine members of his cabinet over various issues including mismanagement of the economy, provision of COVID-19 vaccines and corruption.

Prayuth who is also Defence Minister received 272 votes with 206 voting non-confidence and three remaining silent.

The other nine ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Anutin Charnvirakul who is also Public Health Minister, Jurin Laksanawisit (Commerce Minister), also survived by a comfortable margin.

This is Prayuth's government second no-confidence test since taking over office in 2019. Prayuth and five cabinet ministers defeated a vote of no confidence in the lower house in February last year.

Later today, anti-government protesters are planning to gather at the parliament repeating their demand for political change.

Police said over 10,000 police officers have been deployed to control the crowd in Bangkok this weekend.

Since mid-July, anti-government protesters have been rallying in Bangkok and other cities reiterating their demands for political change, including for the prime minister to step down, the dissolution of Parliament, rewriting of the Constitution and monarchical reforms.

Last Saturday, protesters returned to the streets in Bangkok following the recent detention of four protest leaders who were charged under Section 112 the country's Penal Code, also known as lese-majeste for insulting the monarchy in demonstrations last year.

-- BERNAMA