10,000 Thais rally to support PM Chavalit

10,000 Thais rally to support PM Chavalit

BANGKOK (AFP): Thousands of farmers and Thai villagers rallied in the country's capital yesterday in a show of support for embattled Premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, police and witnesses said.

The crowd gathered in front of Government House as the cabinet -- led by Chavalit -- held its weekly meeting amid fears that an apparent split in the ruling coalition could topple the premier.

"About 10,000 people were brought into Bangkok by bus to show their support for the prime minister," a police officer told AFP, adding the demonstration "lasted only a short time".

But witnesses to the brief gathering said only between 2,000 and 3,000 villagers turned up at the meeting, and said the crowd -- which was bussed in from around the country -- soon packed up and headed back home.

The farmers waved banners and chanted slogans of support for the prime minister who is fighting a tough battle for political survival as his shaky coalition appears to show signs of giving way.

The premier appeared on the steps of the government building to thank the villagers, many from Chavalit's native northeastern Thailand, for giving him their backing during the country's political crisis.

Chavalit also vowed before the crowd that he would not resign or dissolve parliament and call snap election as a trying no- confidence vote and a key parliamentary vote on a new anti-sleaze charter loom next week.

Villagers offered him a yellow garland made of sunflowers, the symbol of his New Aspiration Party, and wished him luck in his battle to survive, reports said.

Speculation is growing that Chavalit, who has presided over the country's worst economic slump since 1945 and who is walking a political tightrope over the explosive new constitution, will be forced from power in the coming days.

He had called an emergency meeting of leaders of the coalition for yesterday night, amid reports that the second largest party could bring him down.

Chavalit is reportedly nervous that the Chart Pattana Party, led by ex-premier Chatchai Choonhavan, may pull out of his six- party coalition as differences over the constitution appear to grow as the censure debate draws closer.

The constitution enjoys huge popular support from corruption- weary urban Thais who want to see an end to vote buying, but the powerful political old guard is resisting any changes that could curb its influence.

Newspaper reports and some political figures have called on the premier to resign, accusing him of economic mismanagement.

But he holds the trump card of being able to dissolve parliament in a bid to avert political humiliation in the censure debate.

But the premier has repeatedly promised not to resort to the tactic that analysts have said could hold up efforts to boost economic recovery under an International Monetary Fund bail out scheme.

In the often opaque and complex world of Thai politics, demonstrators have in the past frequently been brought in from the provinces to support or protest a particular cause with the promise of some spending money.