Thailand’s prime minister to step down

THAILAND’S embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said he would step down from office, bowing to a mounting opposition campaign seeking his ousting over allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

His announcement came after a meeting with Thailand’s revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej at his southern seaside palace.

“I am sorry that I will not accept the premier post,” Mr Thaksin said in a televised speech.

The 56-year-old leader said he would remain in a caretaker role until a successor was chosen, adding that his replacement would be elected once parliament resumes within the next 30 days.

“We have no time to quarrel. I want to see Thai people unite and forget what has happened,” he said.

Results from Sunday’s election showed Mr Thaksin’s popularity had plummeted, and opposition forces had been gearing up to resume their anti-government protests.

It is unclear what role the king played in his decision, although Mr Thaksin said in his speech that scores of world leaders would be arriving in two months for the 60th anniversary of the monarch’s accession to the throne.

Mr Thaksin insisted he had helped the country since being first elected in a landslide victory in 2001. He was returned to office in 2005 and called Sunday’s election to defuse the political crisis.

“As for many things that I have been accused of, this prime minister has never thought of doing anything wrong or evil to the country,” he said.

“I think I have done my best. If there is an opportunity in the future to explain my actions, people may have a clearer understanding.”

The leadership change under popular pressure was the second in the past 15 years, but this one came without bloodshed. In 1992, people protesting the rule of a military strongman were gunned down before Bhumibol stepped in to end the bloodshed, and usher in a period of stable democracy.

Mr Thaksin’s party won 57% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election but scores of voters abstained, according to preliminary results.

There was a record number of abstention ballots in Bangkok, where the anti-Thaksin movement is strongest, and in southern Thailand, a traditional stronghold of the opposition Democrat Party.

Mass opposition rallies have mushroomed since January when Mr Thaksin’s family said it had sold its controlling stake in telecommunications company Shin Corp to Singapore’s state-owned Temasek Holdings for a tax-free €1.55 billion.

Critics alleged the sale involved insider trading and complained that a key national asset was now in a foreign government’s hands.