Premier survives confidence vote as protests grow

BANGKOK — Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha won votes of confidence in Parliament on Saturday, helping to steady his government after it had come under intense criticism for bungling its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prayuth still faces pressure from street protests that have been demanding he step down. Pro-democracy activists opposing his policies have been seeking his resignation since last year and have stepped up their efforts in recent weeks.

Major rallies were held this past week in defiance of limits on public gatherings as a virus-fighting measure, and another took place Saturday, with organizers vowing to continue until he gets out of office.

Arriving at Parliament ahead of voting on the censure motions against him and five members of his Cabinet, Prayuth declared to reporters: “I am confident every day.”

Prayuth prevailed by a comfortable margin in the House of Representatives, with support from 264 lawmakers showing only a few defections from the 271 members of his ruling coalition, despite fevered rumors of a plot among them to force him out.

There were 208 votes in support of the motion, 34 short of the 242 simple majority of the 482 total members the Opposition needed to succeed.

During four previous days of debate, little attention had been given to the details of the Opposition’s harsh accusations that Prayuth’s administration had botched the coronavirus response, countenanced corruption

and mismanaged the economy.

Thai media were instead abuzz with rumors that the secretary-general of the ruling, military-backed Palang Pracharath party, which put together the coalition government that named Prayuth prime minister two years ago, was leading the effort to unseat him and pull the main opposition Pheu Thai party into the

coalition.

Prayuth and his government survived two other no-confidence debates since the 2019 general election. But he was seen as vulnerable now due to his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, particularly its failure to secure timely and adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.

He faced no such challenges when he was junta chief and

prime minister with unrestrained powers in a military regime installed after he staged a coup as army commander in 2014, toppling an elected government.

The other Cabinet members targeted with no-confidence motions also easily survived Saturday’s votes.

Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images Anti-government demonstrators defy coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings and roll through central Bangkok in a rally against the rule of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.