Thai PM Prayuth wins confidence vote after rumours allies might unseat him

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has won a confidence vote in Parliament after a frenzy of speculation over the makeup of the ruling coalition.

Prayuth won 264 votes in the House of Representatives against 208 no confidence votes on Saturday.

Rumours his own political allies might try to unseat him had recently overshadowed harsh criticism from the opposition about his government's coronavirus response.

Thai media were abuzz with rumours that the secretary-general of the military-backed ruling party was leading the effort to unseat Prayuth and to add the main opposition party to the coalition.

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Activists seeking PM resignation 

Street protests have been pressuring Prayuth to step down. Pro-democracy activists have been seeking his resignation since last year and stepped up their efforts in recent weeks.

Major, though not huge, rallies were held this past week in defiance of limitations on the size of public gatherings as a virus-fighting measure.

Prayuth and his government have survived two previous no-confidence debates since he was named prime minister after a 2019 general election.

But he is now seen as vulnerable due to his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, particularly its failure to secure timely and adequate supplies of Covid-19 vaccines.

He faced no such challenges when he was junta chief and prime minister in a military regime installed after he staged a coup as army commander in 2014, toppling an elected government.

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