Thaksin ally named premier
Thailand’s parliament chose the sharp-tongued and combative Samak Sundaravej, a close ally of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, as the country’s new prime minister today.
The vote for Samak, who heads the People Power Party, is considered a key step to restoring democracy in Thailand after the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.
Samak’s party, a new group backed by Thaksin, won the largest number of seats in elections last month.
The PPP heads a coalition of six parties that holds two-thirds of the 480 seats in parliament’s lower house.
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