Word: somchai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...billionaire populist Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed as Prime Minister in a 2006 army coup. After surrounding Parliament and forcing lawmakers to abandon their work, the PAD moved on to Bangkok's old airport, where a VIP lounge now serves as the makeshift headquarters of current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. A brother-in-law of Thaksin, Somchai was evicted from his real office by the protesters, who have besieged Government House for the past three months. (See pictures of Thai people boxing their way out of poverty and prison...
...Somchai only took the reins because his predecessor Samak Sundaravej, who PAD also accused of being a Thaksin puppet, had to resign after he was found guilty of accepting money to host a T.V. cooking show while in office. (One of Samak's culinary tips: braise pork legs in Coca-Cola.) Meanwhile, Thaksin, who has been sentenced in absentia to two years' imprisonment for conflict of interest, has hinted at a political comeback. Earlier this month from self-imposed exile, he divorced his wife in a sham process designed to protect assets that are in her name. Almost immediately after...
...street violence in Bangkok has claimed several lives over the past couple months, and spooked investors and tourists, on whose dollars Thailand depends. Growth forecasts for 2009 hover at a bleak 3%. But even as these troubles mount, neither the government nor the opposition appears willing to give ground. Somchai has refused to resign, and the PAD vows to keep up its campaign even if it means further tarnishing Thailand's reputation as a stable democracy. Further complicating matters, the lead party in Thailand's ruling coalition could be dissolved in the coming weeks because of vote-buying. But even...
...should he return home, he still enjoys wide support among many Thais, particularly those from the impoverished northeast. It was their votes in last December's elections that brought to power the People?s Power Party, a reconstituted version of Thaksin's banned party. Thailand's current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat is Thaksin's brother-in-law and is considered by government critics as little more than a puppet. Indeed, the opposition alliance that has occupied Thailand's seat of power, Government House, for more than two months, vows to continue its siege until a leader they consider independent...
...chanted, "Put Thaksin in jail," after the verdict was announced. Their ongoing fight against the former PM also helped push Thaksin ally Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej out of power in August. The PAD now claims the current democratically elected government, led by Thaksin's brother-in-law Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, is acting under orders from Thaksin, and is demanding his resignation...