BANGKOK (AP) – Thai lawmakers yesterday began a no-confidence debate targetting Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and five of his Cabinet members, with the opposition focussing on charges the government bungled its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debate is scheduled to last four days, with voting by the lower house set for Saturday. Organisers of ongoing anti-government street protests have vowed to step up their own separate efforts during the debate to force Prayuth out of office.
His coalition government is generally expected to turn back this week’s challenge, even though it has come under intense criticism for failing to secure timely and adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.
Leader of the main opposition Pheu Thai party Sompong Amornvivat kicked off the debate with a fierce attack, charging that Prayuth is “a power-crazed arrogant person unsuitable to lead the country.”
“If we let him continue his leadership, it will lead to more people being infected and losing their lives,” said Sompong. “There won’t be enough crematoriums in service and there will be no way to stop the spread of the disease.”
He drew an objection from a government Member of Parliament when he said the situation recalled a saying that “A stupid leader will lead us all to death, because a stupid person with power is the worst danger.”
This is the third no-confidence debate faced by Prayuth since he came to power after a 2019 general election. He also served as prime minister in a military government in 2014-2019 after seizing power in a coup as army commander.
A third wave of the coronavirus arrived in April and spread rapidly, accounting for 97 per cent of the more than 1.17 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began, and more than 99 per cent of the 11,495 total deaths.
