Mr Thaksin remains popular with some segments of Thai society despite his ouster more than two years ago. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S opposition Democrat Party said on Friday it is confident it can form a new government next week but acknowledged that a speech by exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could re-ignite political turmoil in the country.
Heavy police presence planned for Thai PM vote
BANGKOK - THAI authorities will deploy 1,200 police
outside parliament to guard against protests when the main opposition party tries to get its leader elected as prime minister on Monday, police said.
The tight security is in case of demonstrations by supporters of the government that was toppled last week, when a court barred premier Somchai Wongsawat from politics and disbanded the ruling People Power Party (PPP). The opposition Democrat Party says several smaller parties from the former ruling coalition have defected to its side, enabling it to form a government
and install its leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, as premier.
Thaksin - still powerful two years after his ouster in a military coup - hopes to head off a government led by his opponents with a telephone address to tens of thousands of supporters on Saturday.
Mr Nattawut Sia-kau, an organiser of Saturday's event, said Thaksin would accuse the powerful military and other forces of intervening and destroying the democratic process.
'They are trying to fix who should be the next prime minister,' he said.
Thailand's Parliament is to meet on Monday to elect a new prime minister, lower house Speaker Chai Chidchob announced on Thursday.
The Democrats claim they have enlisted enough lawmakers from other parties to form a parliamentary majority and name their leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister of a new government.
'Mr Thaksin is a very powerful man. His speech might create deeper divisions among Thais and stir up more turmoil in the country. It depends on his conscience,' Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Smutharaks told The Associated Press.
But he said the party was still confident that Mr Abhisit, an articulate, Oxford-educated politician, would emerge as the country's leader. He said Thaksin made daily calls last week to woo former supporters who had defected to the Democrats but was unsuccessful.
Last week, the Constitutional Court forced Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to step down and disbanded his pro-Thaksin People's Power Party for fraud in last year's general elections.
The new leader will be Thailand's fifth prime minister in a little over two years. The country has been deadlocked politically by months of protests by an anti-government alliance that culminated in a weeklong occupation of Bangkok's airports last month that stranded more than 300,000 travelers.
The protesters accused Somchai's government of being a puppet of Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire who was ousted by a September 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power.
They called off their protests after last week's court decision.
Thaksin, who has been living in exile in the United Arab Emirates, is widely seen as continuing to play a major behind-the-scenes role in the country's politics and is still supported by many in the impoverished countryside because of his populist policies while in power from 2001 to 2006. -- AP
