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BANGKOK - THAILAND'S newly elected Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has admitted he was not completely satisfied with his Cabinet, portraying the line-up as an 'ugly duckling'.
The admission, made just before the Cabinet line-up goes for royal approval, reveals the intense horse-trading that went on within the six-party coalition led by the Thaksin-backed People Power Party (PPP).
Faced with coalition demands and strict rules on ministerial credentials, Mr Samak yielded to pressure to make appointments he was unhappy with, The Nation reported yesterday.
PPP sources said party leaders had formed the Cabinet under an agreement to have a reshuffle in four to six months.
The new Prime Minister did not reveal which appointments caused him frustration, but he said his options were limited, and that he had tried but failed to recruit competent outsiders.
'The rules are too strict and have scared many individuals out of the public service,' he said. 'I don't know what to do with the government's image - it is unavoidable that it's a little ugly, because only the daredevils are willing to join the Cabinet.'
He also acknowledged that he had had to comply with requests from the five parties that joined the PPP to form a coalition with a parliamentary majority.
Yesterday, he confirmed that the Cabinet secretary-general had finished checking the line-up. The list will be submitted for royal approval before a formal announcement is made. The announcement is expected early this week.
The Prime Minister's challenges go beyond the Cabinet: More than a month after the elections, two of the coalition partners are still facing the threat of dissolution for alleged vote-buying that involved party executives.
Election Commissioner Sodsri Satayatham yesterday said a pa-
nel is to decide in a fortnight whether to recommend seeking a Constitution court order to dissolve the Matchima Thipataya Party and Chart Thai Party.
The parties account for 44 of the coalition's 315 seats, out of a total of 480 seats in Parliament.
A dissolution could hurt the coalition government's stability, although the sitting MPs could form new parties that would join the coalition, maintaining the status quo.
Leaders from the two parties were earlier disqualified for vote-
buying. Under election laws, a political party can be dissolved if an executive member is found to be involved in any illegal attempt during the polls to gain power.
Xinhua, The Nation/Asia
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