Thai opposition ready to form government

Bangkok, Dec 7: The Telegraph reports that Thailand's main opposition Democratic Party has said that it can form a government with members of the ruling coalition that collapsed this week. The move could end up freezing out allies of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The surprise development came just days after a court stripped Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of his position and disbanded the pro-Thaksin People Power Party in connection with a vote fraud case. "We have agreed to form a government to revive the country's economy and confidence," Sungthep Tuagsuban, secretary general of the main opposition Democrat Party, told reporters after meetings with the PPP's former allies.

Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 but, his supporters won elections in December last year, triggering months of protests that culminated in demonstrators besieging Bangkok's airports earlier this month.

Somchai was Thaksin's brother-in-law.

One of the former coalition parties said at the same press conference that it would back the chief of the Democrat Party, Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, to be Thailand's new prime minister.

ANI