Prayut and Cabinet get overwhelming ‘no-confidence’ vote from public
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and 10 other Cabinet members survived the censure motion in Parliament by a comfortable majority on Saturday – but failed miserably in a parallel “people’s vote”.
Of the 524,806 votes cast in the televised “Voice of the People” forum, about 95 per cent gave a thumbs-down to all 11 government ministers grilled by the opposition over the past week.
The separate “no-confidence votes” for each minister ranged from 504,197 to 510,143, compared to “confidence votes” of between 14,393 and 20,609.
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan received the highest no-confidence vote from members of the public, with 510,143. Prawit received only 14,393 confidence votes.
Interior Minister Gen Anupong Paochinda got off lightest with 504,197 no-confidence votes and 20,609 votes of confidence.
PM Prayut received 508,833 no-confidence votes and 15,973 confidence votes.
The trio, collectively known as the “3P brothers”, are former commanders-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army and brothers-in-arms since their days as junior officers. They were the main targets of opposition attacks during the four-day no-confidence debate that started on Tuesday.
The “Voice of the People” forum is a collaboration of academics from four universities, civil groups and four television channels including Nation TV
“The project is meant to be a platform for people, as the true owners of the country under the Constitution, to express their opinions on whether they trust the 11 targeted ministers or not,” Thammasat University law lecturer Prinya Thaewanarumitkul said on Saturday.
“Although the people’s vote has no legal status, the politicians involved should heed it,” he added.