Thai Prime Minister Resigns as Party Leader
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BANGKOK, Thailand — An aide says Thailand’s ousted prime minister will resign as leader of the ruling party.
Samak Sundaravej has also decided not to contest a parliamentary vote Wednesday to be re-elected prime minister, his aide, Teerapon Noprampa, says.
Mr. Samak was ousted Tuesday by a Constitutional Court ruling for violating a conflict-of-interest law by hosting two television cooking shows while in office.
Mr. Teerapon said today that Mr. Samak told him to tell “every reporter that he is going to step down from being the party leader and he will not accept the prime ministership.”
The ruling People’s Power Party said earlier it was abandoning its bid to reinstall Mr. Samak. The announcements raised hopes of ending a political crisis buffeting the country.
