Thai opposition pursues censure motion against PM
Updated
Thailand's opposition is pursuing a rare censure motion against the country's prime minister, Samak Sundaravej.
Mr Samak has been in office less than six months.
Our correspondent in Bangkok, Karen Percy, says the Democrat party has begun its no-confidence debate in the parliament, which is expected to last two days.
Opposition members accuse Mr Samak of acting as a proxy for former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in September 2006.
There are several corruption cases against Mr Thaksin.
They also say Mr Samak and senior members of his cabinet have ignored the economic and other problems of the country to focus on restoring Mr Thaksin's reputation.
Censure motions are rare in Thai politics.
The last one was in 1979 and was led by Mr Samak, who was then part of a small opposition party.
Now his coalition holds a large majority in the lower house and as a result it is unlikely that the motion will be successful.
In the past month, thousands of protesters have been challenging the government on a daily basis.
