Cooking show stint derails Thai prime minister

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Thai court removed the prime minister Tuesday for taking pay to host a TV cooking show, setting off wild celebrations by protesters occupying his office compound. But rejoicing could be short-lived — the ruling party vowed to put him back in power.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling took Samak Sundaravej at least temporarily out of the cross-hairs of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, a rightist movement that seized the Government House complex two weeks ago seeking to force the prime minister’s resignation.

But the ruling seemed unlikely to end the political crisis brought on by the alliance’s demands for a sea change in Thai politics, beginning with Samak’s ouster and eventually moving Thailand away from democracy in favor of a mostly appointed legislature.

After the verdict, Samak’s political party vowed to re-elect him as prime minister, as allowed by law.
Protesters said they would hold on to Government House while waiting to see who Parliament selects as prime minister, a vote expected Friday.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 9 2008. Filed under News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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