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Thailand's prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has continued to struggle to shore up the public's confidence in his leadership and maintain a sense of authority over his partners in the coalition government. Abhisit was voted into office in December last year with the backing of a majority of members of parliament. But there have been constant doubts as to whether he truly has the support of all those who voted in his favour, many of whom have a reputation for being political opportunists, having previously been staunch allies of a controversial former prime minister who was ousted in a coup in 2006, Thaksin Shinawatra. Although Abhisit has managed to keep his government intact in the past eight months, on several important matters he has not enjoyed the firm support of his coalition...