Thailand PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha survives fourth no-confidence vote since 2019

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has been under a lot of pressure politically but there was good news for the 68-year-old on Saturday as he survived yet another no-confidence vote in the parliament. This was the fourth no-confidence vote during his tenure as Prime Minister since 2019. In the recent months, the opposition in Thailand were extremely critical of Prayuth as they blamed him for corruption and “economic mismanagement”. However, he was able to prove his majority in the parliament after getting 256 votes from a total of 477 as nine abstained from the process.

The tenure was shrouded with controversies from the beginning as the opposition were not happy with the elections in 2019. They accused the government of tweaking the rules in order to hand Prayuth an unfair advantage after he came to power following a military coup back in 2014.

The public has also been criticising the government for a number of steps taken in the past few years and protests have become common sight on the streets of various cities across the country.

They were also questions asked of the government regarding their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic which saw a number of deaths. Following the controversies, Prayuth faced a no-confidence vote in September 2021 as well, but he was able to retain power with 264 votes.

Following the no-confidence vote, Prayuth once again denied all the allegations levelled against his government but did not provide any clear picture about when the next elections will be held.