Thaksin steps aside as Thai prime minister

By Ed Cropley

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
stepped aside on Wednesday and let a deputy assume the top spot
as politicians tried to find a way out of a long-running
crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya, responsible
for security in the Muslim south where a separatist insurgency
has boiled since 2004, would take over, but Thaksin could take
back the job if necessary, a government spokesman said.

“I am taking a rest for now,” Thaksin, carrying a framed
photograph of his family from his desk, told reporters after
chairing a cabinet meeting at Government House.

Thaksin said he would remain in Thailand, probably visiting
his hometown in the north. “I will be around and if I have time
I will go to Chiang Mai,” he said.

His opponents were still digesting his stunning promise on
Tuesday evening to quit. Many of his enemies had been dubious
about whether the telecoms billionaire, whom they accuse of
cronyism and abuse of power, really meant what he said.

Thaksin, winner of two previous landslide elections, called
a snap poll to try to defuse mass protests clogging Bangkok and
put an end to the political uncertainty hitting the economy.

While he claimed victory, the election drew an unexpectedly
large protest vote and triggered a constitutional crisis when
an opposition boycott left 39 empty seats in parliament, which
must be filled for a new prime minister to be elected.

His promise to quit sent the baht to a one-year high
against the dollar on Wednesday and the stock market jumped 3.7
percent as investors hoped it signaled the beginning of the end
of the political crisis.

But a sharp increase in the Thai currency’s volatility sent
a different signal — that the immediate future could be more,
not less, uncertain.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Many questions remained unanswered — in particular whether
Thaksin will actually leave politics or when the new prime
minister will be appointed, given that nobody knows when
parliament will next meet.

Potentially solving the incomplete parliament issue,
Election Commission (EC) Chairman Wassana Permlarp said the
opposition could run in by-elections scheduled for April 23 in
the empty seats, all but one of which are in the south, a
region dominated by the opposition Democrats.

However, having earlier questioned the legality of the EC
ruling, the Democrats said they would not run — throwing the
issue wide open again.

“We will wait until there are political reforms,” deputy
leader Chulin Laksanaviset told reporters before a meeting of
the three opposition parties to discuss whether to cancel their
boycott and take part in the run-offs.

Law experts such as Thammasat University’s Prinya
Thaewanarumitkul said the EC had the power to make the
decision. “The Democrats would look very bad if they did not
run,” he said.

Still displaying deep suspicions of Thaksin, whose Thai Rak
Thai party won the country’s biggest ever majority in an
election a year ago, Korn said the resignation offer might be a
ploy to get parliament to open without the full quota of 500
MPs.

“He’s trying to get around the election law by forcing
parliament to open. I don’t think anybody is in a position to
force parliament to open illegally,” he said.

The charter says all seats must be filled before parliament
can meet, but it must meet within 30 days of an election.

Adding to the confusion, the protest leaders — a former
business associate and an ex-general — set their own clock
running, saying they wanted Thaksin out of politics by April 30
or they would lay siege anew to his offices.

There is also the question of the new prime minister, as
well as Thaksin’s expressed intention to remain as head of Thai
Rak Thai, a position from which he would still be able to pull
the strings, street protest chief Sondhi Limthongkul said.

Thaksin’s departure was inconceivable 12 months ago, when
he swept to power on a platform of cheap healthcare and
handouts to the countryside where 70 percent of Thailand’s 63
million people live.

He apologized to the 16 million people he said voted for
him on Sunday only to see him pushed from office two days
later.

“I must say that I’m not happy that I have to apologize to
the people, but this is to bring national reconciliation,” he
said.