Opposition warns departing Thai PM

Thailand’s opposition celebrated the fall of prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra today after weeks of anti-government rallies, but warned of fresh protests if he did not keep his promise to leave after a new parliament convened.

After a meeting with Thailand’s revered king yesterday, Thaksin announced that he was stepping down to end a tenacious movement to oust him because of allegations of abuse of power, corruption and destroying democratic institutions.

“I am sorry that I will not accept the premier’s post,” Thaksin said during a brief televised speech, his voice close to breaking several times despite his normally supremely confident demeanour.

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

Thaksin, a telecommunications magnate who swept to power in a landslide in 2001, said he would remain in a caretaker role until a successor was chosen by his ruling party once parliament resumed within the next 30 days.

His party swept snap elections he called for on Sunday after campaigning virtually unopposed because of an opposition boycott, with early results showing that nearly four in 10 voters cast protest ballots.

While some opponents praised Thaksin’s move to step down, others remained on guard, fearing he would continue to control the government.

“If he does not step down by the end of the month, and continues to dominate the next government through proxies, the People’s Alliance for Democracy would regroup and resume a major protest,”

said Sondhi Limthongkul, who had led regular rallies that had drawn as many as 100,000 protesters in the months before the election.

Pipob Thongchai, another alliance leader, said a demonstration on Friday would go ahead, but the protests would then end. Demonstrators who had camped out in front of Government House for weeks were packing up and moving out today.

Thaksin’s offer to resign was unexpected and made shortly after he met King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The king’s role, if any, was unclear but Thaksin had earlier said that only the constitutional monarch could force him to go.

“Only one person can tell me to resign: his Majesty the King. If the king just merely whispers to me, ‘Thaksin, you resign’, then I will resign right away,” he said earlier.

Thaksin’s party won 57% of Sunday’s popular vote and virtually all seats in parliament, according to preliminary results.

About 37% cast a protest ballot for no candidate, while the rest went to obscure parties or were spoiled.

Outside the prime minister’s office, the announcement was greeted with cheers by more than 1,000 anti-government protesters watching Thaksin’s speech on a large television screen.

But supporters of Thaksin, who enjoys strong support in rural areas in part because of his generous social welfare and economic assistance programs, were visibly upset.

“He’s fought against drugs. He’s fought the mafia,” said one Bangkok taxi driver, wiping away tears. “I’m very sad.”

Thaksin said in his resignation speech that scores of world leaders would be coming to Thailand in two months for the 60th anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne, and that the country should “clean up our house” before then.