Rival Thai parties grappling for power
Reporting from Bangkok, Thailand — The party containing allies of ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra and its opponents each claimed Sunday to have enough support to form a coalition government to succeed the administration sacked last week by the courts.
"Now we've got more than 222 votes, which exceeds the half of votes needed to form a government," deputy Puea Thai leader Kanawat Wasinsungworn said. "Our former coalition partners will join us. We now have enough votes."
Puea Thai is the replacement for the banned People's Power Party, or PPP, itself a replacement for Thaksin's banned Thais Love Thais party.
However, Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Smutharaks said his party and its new allies had secured 260 votes in the lower house of parliament, which normally has 480 members.
That number has been thrown into confusion by last week's court ruling against PPP, which saw dozens of members of its party and two other parties barred from politics for five years.
The Democrat Party asked House Speaker Chai Chidchob today to call an extraordinary session of parliament to choose the new prime minister.
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