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BANGKOK: Thailand’s People Power Party (PPP) MP Yongyuth Tiyapairat
was elected as the House Speaker at the first parliamentary meeting
on Tuesday.
Yongyuth, former deputy leader of PPP, got 307
votes while his only rival, Democrat Party MP Banyat Bantadtan got
167 votes during an hour-long balloting by the newly-elected
lawmakers, who won in the December 23 general elections.
PPP MP Chai Chidchob, selected as the acting
Speaker as he is the most senior member, chaired Tuesday’s meeting
for MPs to elect the House Speaker and two deputy Speakers.
PPP party executives and MPs reached an
agreement after a meeting Monday to nominate Yongyuth as the
party’s only candidate for the House Speaker post.
Meanwhile, the PPP’s five coalition partners,
Chart Thai, Matchimathipataya, Puea Pandin, Pracharaj and Ruam Jai
Thai Chart Pattana parties, agreed to not contest the House Speaker
and two Deputy Speakers positions on Monday, according to PPP
spokesman Kudep Saikrachang.
Yongyuth’s victory had been widely anticipated
among political observers as the 480-seat House was controlled by
PPP and its allies.
Yongyuth, 47, had been elected as a MP several
times and served as Natural Resources and Environment Minister in
the coup-ousted administration of Thaksin Shinawatra, resigned
Monday from the job of PPP deputy leader and executive to clear the
way for him to become the House Speaker, because the Constitution
does not allow the House Speaker to hold an executive position in a
political party.
The voting for the first and second Deputy House
Speaker is still underway, with PPP MPs Somsak Kiatsuranont and
Apiwan Wiriyachai being the leading contenders.
The House is scheduled to elect a new Prime
Minister on Friday, with PPP leader Samak Sundaravej strongly
tipped as the leading candidate.
-- Xinhua
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