Thai PM overwhelmingly survives no-confidence motion after four-day censure debate

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday overwhelmingly survived a no-confidence motion alongside five of his cabinet members.

Following a four-day censure debate, the prime minister, who concurrently acts as the defense minister, was given 272 votes of confidence cast by government MPs, compared to 49 votes of no-confidence cast by opposition MPs.

The majority government MPs cast roughly as overwhelming votes of confidence for all the five ministers as for the prime minister grilled in the marathon debate by the minority opposition MPs. Those ministers included Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda, Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai and Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Thammanat Prompao.

On Thursday, the opposition MPs, including those who cast votes of no-confidence on Friday, staged a walk-out in protest after they had been denied by the government MPs an extra time for the censure debate.

During the four-day debate, Prayut and other cabinet members have defended themselves from the opposition's allegations.

Throughout the debate, both sides of the parliament aisle intermittently rose to protest against one another, mostly citing alleged breaches to House meeting rules and irrelevant speeches.