Opponents say Thai PM can lose job over British citizenship acknowledgement

BANGKOK - The political opponents of Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva have said that he could lose his job over his acknowledgement that he also retains a British citizenship.

Yesterday, Vejajjiva had publicly acknowledged his dual nationality for the first time during a debate in Parliament, the Daily Mail reports.

The 46-year-old leader automatically holds a British citizenship because he was born in Newcastle to parents from a well-off Bangkok family. He would have to renounce it to lose British citizenship, the paper said.

Following his admission, the Prime Minister’s opponents had claimed that as a British citizen, he could be sued in international courts over alleged abuses during his administration’s crackdown on anti-government protests in 2010.

Last year, government buildings were set ablaze by Red Shirt protesters during violent clashes with the Thai authorities, killing scores of people.

Opponents have always slammed Abhisit for his upper-class Oxford University education and reportedly refer to him in speeches by his English name, Mark.

Abhisit was elected to Parliament at the age of 27, and became the Democrat Party leader in 2005. He was endorsed as Prime Minister in December 2008 after a vote by Parliament, the youngest in nearly 60 years. (ANI)