ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN / AP WRITER / BANGKOK : Thailand's prime minister appears headed for victory despite a week-long grilling in Parliament on a no-confidence motion that goes to a vote on Friday.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's six-party coalition commands a majority in the Parliament's lower house, where the opposition has accused him of incompetence, mismanagement and yielding national sovereignty.

With his partners seemingly behind him, Samak was expected to win the vote, although he will continue to face street protests that have hounded his government for the past month.

Thursday's debate began with Trairong Suwanakhiri of the opposition Democrat Party accusing Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan of failing to curb the soaring cost of living through a lack of management skills.

Minkgkwan is one of seven ministers facing the no-confidence vote along with Samak, who earlier defended the government's economic policy, saying the whole world faced soaring costs driven by oil price hikes.

"The government will survive the no-confidence debate since the coalition is still intact. His partners do not care much about the content of the debate, but they care about their own survival," said Sukhum Naunsakul, a political scientist at Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva accused Samak of mishandling the economy and failing to ease the impact of soaring oil prices, interfering with freedom of the press and violating national interests.

"Even after four months in power, the administration massively mismanaged the country, with no unity, no direction and no efficiency," Abhisit said during the debate.

He repeatedly accused Samak's government, which took office in February, of being a puppet of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Opposition lawmaker Malinee Sukvechavorakij accused Samak of being "immature" and "unfit to govern," citing his frequent outbursts at the media.

"The behavior of the prime minister is considered both verbally and mentally dysfunctional," said Malinee, a medical doctor.

Samak responded calmly, "I am medically fit and I get my checkup every three months."

Samak's coalition, led by his People's Power Party, controls about two-thirds of the 480 seats in the lower house. The government says it is confident it will survive.

Demonstrators, led by activists from the People's Alliance for Democracy, launched street protests on May 25 and have occupied the area around Government House, the seat of Thailand's government, since breaking through a police cordon on Friday.

The protesters say they will not be satisfied until Samak's entire government steps down.

The alliance led mass demonstrations before the 2006 coup demanding Thaksin step down for alleged corruption and abuse of power. They now accuse Samak's government of interfering with corruption charges against Thaksin and trying to change the constitution for its own self-interest.