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SUBJECT [Jun 7] Thailand PM, Denmark General Elections, Korean Speaker visits Latvia and Lithuania
DATE 2019-06-07
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PHOTO: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters. Thaland’s new Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

 

The leader of the junta that seized power in Thailand five years ago, Prayuth Chan-ocha, was chosen by Parliament to be 29th Prime Minister on June 5, 2019. He will lead a coalition government – Phalang Pracharat Party had earlier cobbled together a ruling coalition with the medium-sized Democrat and Bhumjaithai parties and 16 small entities that has a slim parliamentary majority of 254 seats in the 500 seat lower house.

 

Mr. Prayuth, a former general who has been Prime Minister for the past five years after a military coup in 2014, won by a combined vote of 500 to 244 in the House of Representatives and Senate after more than 12 hours of deliberation by MPs. This result was widely expected as the winning candidate needed at least 376 of the total 750 votes of the House and the Senate combined, including those of 250 senators handpicked by the National Council for Peace and Order led by General Prayuth as a result of the stipulations in the 2017 Constitution.

 

Mr. Prayuth defeated the opposition nominee, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the leader of the pro-democracy Future Forward Party who was elected to Parliament but suspended from his seat last month by the Constitutional Court. Mr. Thanathorn was suspended from Parliament after the Election Commission filed a case accusing him of not divesting his shares in a media company before a deadline. Mr. Thanathorn denies the allegation and is fighting to be reinstated.

 

Future Forward leaders alleged that some lawmakers were offered the equivalent of $1 million or more to switch sides, though they did not say who made the offers. One member said he had been offered increasingly larger amounts until the figure reached nearly $4 million. Mr. Thanathorn also accuses the military-appointed Election Commission of manipulating the March general election results. He claims the commission changed seat allocations to tip control of the lower house from the pro-democracy opposition to the military’s backers.

 

Mr. Prayuth, who is not a Member of Parliament, chose not to address the joint session once the results were announced.

 

Mr. Prayuth led the military junta which seized power in 2014 after months of paralyzing street protests in Bangkok by the followers of two rival political factions that are aligned today with the Democrat Party and the Pheu Thai Party. The junta adopted an interim Constitution, which gave the head of the regime absolute power over all branches of government.

 

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva announced the next morning that he was resigning as a party MP over his party’s endorsement of General Prayuth as Prime Minister. The Democrat Party, Thailand’s oldest and most traditional party, had been particularly resistant to joining the coalition because senior party figures feared the long-term consequences of aligning themselves with the military.

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1689860/house-senate-elect-prayut-thailands-new-prime-minister

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/military-government-chief-prayuth-chan-ocha-elected-thai-pm-190605173837759.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/thailand-military-backed-pm-prayuth-chan-ocha-voted-in-after-junta-creates-loose-coalition

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/world/asia/thailand-prayuth-prime-minister.html

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/elections/general-prayut-chan-o-cha-is-thailands-29th-prime-minister

 

 

 

PHOTO: Tim K Jensen/Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters. Mette Frederiksen is set to be the new Prime Minister of Denmark.

 

On June 5, 2019, Denmark’s ruling Prime Minister Larks Lokke Rasmussen conceded victory in the country’s general election, paving the way for Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen to take power.

 

The center-left Social Democrats won with 25.3% of the vote and her “red bloc” secured 91 of the 179 seats in parliament. Denmark’s main parties are traditionally organized into the left-wing “red bloc” and the right-wing “blue bloc”, and the five-party red bloc is headed by the center-left Social Democrats, who have spent the last four years in opposition. The blue bloc is splintered into eight parties, with the pro-EU Liberal Party (Venstre) in power since 2015, forming a coalition with the Conservative People’s Party and the Liberal Alliance.

 

Venstre improved on its 2015 election performance, increasing its share of the vote by almost 4% to 23.8%, outperforming the exit polls. It also became the biggest Danish party in the European Parliament last month and promised in the national elections to put extra money into the welfare system and crack down on immigration. But Liberal Alliance saw its seats fall from 13 to 4 in the Parliament, and its leader Anders Samuelsen was under pressure to resign in the wake of the results. The far-right Danish People’s Party (DPP) also suffered a massive fall and saw their support drop from 21% in 2015 to just 9% this election.

 

After the results were announced, Mette Frederiksen told supporters: “Together we have created a hope that we can change Denmark, that we can improve Denmark.”

 

During the campaign, the Social Democrats pledged to increase public spending, increase taxes for businesses and the wealthy, and partially roll back pension reforms so that people who have worked for 40 years can retire earlier. They also said that they intend to form a minority government – common in Denmark’s proportional representation system – relying on the support of other parties to pass legislation.

 

https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/05/denmark-election-first-exit-poll-shows-red-bloc-set-to-win

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48535939

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/denmark-election-anti-immigration-leftists-set-win-190605152728967.html

 

 

 

 

PHOTO: Korean National Assembly. Korean National Assembly Speaker Hee-sang Moon (left) with Speaker of Latvian Saeima Inara Murniece (right).

 

As part of an official trip to the Baltic region, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang traveled to Latvia on May 31.

 

In a meeting with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis held at the presidential residence in Riga, the capital, Speaker Moon extended his gratitude to the president for being the first to announce his country’s participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games among national leaders around the globe. The speaker then congratulated President Vejonis on his country’s celebration of its centennial of independence last year. Citing the ROK-Baltic States Joint Committee on Economy, which was set up last month, Speaker Moon said he hopes the committee would soon hold its second and third meetings to strengthen the ROK’s economic cooperation with the three Baltic countries, which include Latvia.

 

President Vejonis offered his condolences to the Republic of Korea over the recent sightseeing ship incident in Hungary, which left dozens of Korean tourists injured, dead, or missing. He also noted his visit to the ROK during the PyeongChang Winter Games last year, when he said he received the impression that it is a country of warmhearted people. Commenting on the joint economic committee, he said it would be a useful initiative for pursuing closer economic cooperation between the Baltic States and the ROK. He added that during his talks with ROK President Moon Jae-in last winter, the two presidents had an interesting conversation about deepening Latvia-ROK cooperation, and he expected that the two leaders would exchange visits in the near future.

 

In a subsequent meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, Speaker Moon said that he holds the prime minister’s leadership in high regard, for he has been contributing much toward his country’s public security, financial affairs, governance by rule of law, and other important fields. He then noted that ROK-Latvian relations have grown closer since the PyeongChang Winter Games. After the Olympics, he noted, the ROK consulate in Riga was elevated to an embassy while a ROK air carrier has launched a direct flight to the capital city. He added that even stronger economic cooperation was expected, as well as broader people-to-people and academic exchanges. While extending his gratitude for the ROK’s upgrading of its Riga mission to an embassy, Prime Minister Kari?s said he hoped an ambassador would be appointed soon, and that the move encourages more people from both nations to visit each other’s country, adding that he hopes that ROK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon pays a visit to Latvia.

 

After the meeting with the prime minister, Speaker Moon traveled to the Saeima, the Latvian legislature, where he held talks with Speaker Inara Murniece. They discussed ways to promote inter-parliamentary exchange and cooperation between the two countries, and signed a memorandum of understanding on stronger cooperation between the National Assembly and the Saeima.

 

Speaker Moon noted that the two legislatures’ signing of an MOU on mid- and long-term cooperation was meaningful in that both sides would be able to share their experience and expertise in trade, investment, science and technology, and economic growth, working together toward mutual national development. He then expressed his appreciation to Latvia and the European Union for their continuous support of a diplomatic and conversational approach to inter-Korean issues. He also extended an invitation to his counterpart to visit the National Assembly before the end of May next year, when his term in office ends.

 

Speaker M?rniece pledged to visit Seoul and noted that the ROK is a crucial economic partner to her country in Asia, underscoring the significance of robust parliamentary-level cooperation. Signing the MOU would be a good opportunity for both sides to enhance exchanges between their standing committees as well as their lawmakers, she said, leading to greater mutual understanding between the two countries. Regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula, which she said the entire world is keenly watching, she expressed her wish that they be settled by means of dialogue and diplomacy.

 

 

 

PHOTO: Speaker of Korean National Assembly Hee-sang Moon (left) with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitem (right).

 

On June 3, Speaker Moon paid an official visit to Lithuania and met with the Speaker of Lithuanian parliament Viktoras Pranckietis, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitem and Prime Minister Saulis Skvernelis.

 

During his talks with Speaker Pranckietis at the parliamentary building in Vilnius, the capital city, Speaker Moon noted that Lithuania is the ROK’s biggest trading partner in the Baltic region, with two-way trade volume having surpassed 300 million U.S. dollars in 2015. Commenting that the two countries have enormous potential to increase bilateral trade up to the 3 billion dollar or even the 30 billion-dollar level, he expressed hopes for more active cooperation in the information technology, life science, and Fintech sectors, areas in which Lithuania have comparative advantages.

 

Speaker Pranckietis said he was keenly interested in expanding his country’s exchanges with the ROK, underlining that Speaker Moon and the National Assembly delegation’s visit to Lithuania would add fresh momentum to inter-parliamentary cooperation. Given that both countries were expected to exchange visits to companies and business clusters, private sector cooperation would be enhanced as well, he said.

 

After the meeting at the Seimas, Speaker Moon traveled to the Presidential Palace, where he held a meeting with President Grybauskaite. Speaker Moon extended his gratitude to the president for visiting the ROK three times since taking office, contributing immensely to deepening ROK-Lithuanian relations. Noting Lithuania’s joining the Eurozone and the OECD, the speaker said such moves would encourage more Korean businesses to invest in the country, particularly in the areas of life science and Fintech. Referring to inter-Korean issues, Speaker Moon said that the Hanoi summit was not an end but rather a new beginning. The support and cooperation of the international community, including Lithuania, greatly strengthened the performance of the so-called Peace Process on the Korean Peninsula, he said, asking for Lithuania’s continuing support for bringing peace to the peninsula.

 

In the subsequent meeting with Prime Minister Skvernelis, Speaker Moon noted that it was his second visit to Lithuania as parliamentary speaker, following his first visit in 2011, and asked that senior-level officials of the two countries exchange visits more frequently. Noting the recent establishment of the ROK-Baltic States Joint Committee on Economy, he expressed his wishes for more practical cooperation between the two sides. He said that Lithuania is an important hub in the distribution sector, connecting the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and therefore, there is tremendous potential for further cooperation.

 

http://korea.assembly.go.kr/wha/new2_list.jsp?boardid=1000000027#

 

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)