Ousted leader’s in-law picked

THAILAND’S ruling People Power Party (PPP) nominated a brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra as its pick for prime minister yesterday, antagonising protesters who accuse the government of being a puppet of the ousted leader.

Somchai Wongsawat, 61, has been acting prime minister since last week, when the Constitutional Court fired Samak Sundaravej — also seen as a Thaksin proxy — for hosting cooking shows on commercial television while in office.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has occupied the prime minister’s official compound for the past three weeks in a bid to unseat the PPP, said it had no doubts that Thaksin would be pulling the strings from London, where he is in exile.

“We all know who Somchai is. Samak was just a nominee but Somchai is the real actor linked to Thaksin’s family,” PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told reporters. “We will not give him the benefit of the doubt or give him a honeymoon period.”

Parliament is due to vote on Somchai’s nomination tomorrow, although as with an abortive vote for Samak on Friday following approval by the party, his formal accession is far from assured.

A group of 35 rebel PPP MPs came out of the party meeting to tell reporters they would not be voting for Somchai, saying his ties to Thaksin meant the political conflict that has gripped Thailand since well before a 2006 coup would drag on.