Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej cooks on his TV show in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 1. Thai Constitutional Court's ruling on Tuesday, September 9, removed Prime Minister Samak from office for receiving payment to host a TV cooking show, setting off wild celebrations by protesters occupying his office compound, government house. - AP

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP):

Protesters occupying the prime minister's office compound in Thailand plan to truck in sand to cover up the rain-fed muck they've been living in for nearly three weeks, but there's no easy way to clean up the political mess they've created.

While demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy were erecting scaffolding yesterday to help to shelter themselves, their opponents from the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) were tearing themselves apart.

Dissident factions threatened yesterday not to support the party's proposed candidate for prime minister, acting Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. If it proves too difficult to muster a majority for any candidate when Parliament meets tomorrow, the body could be dissolved for new elections.

The previous prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, was forced from office last week when a court ruled he had broken the law by accepting money to host a cooking show after he took office.

Favoured

Somchai, deputy prime minister and education minister in Samak's Cabinet, has the kind of long bureaucratic experience favoured by Thailand's ruling class, having served more than 20 years as a judge before entering government.

His endorsement won backing from the second-largest member of the coalition, the Chart Thai party.

"He is gentle, sensitive and measured," said Chart Thai's deputy leader, Kanchana Silpa-archa. "He has qualities of a reasonable man who is willing to listen and compromise, which is what the country needs right now."

But Somchai, 61, is also the brother-in-law of disgraced former Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra, whose political legacy is a prime target of the protest alliance.

A group of 73 PPP lawmakers signed a petition asking the party to reconsider Somchai's nomination.

"We will abstain from voting if (Somchai) is formally nominated," said Boonsong Wongtrirat, a spokesman for the lawmakers. "We want to choose a candidate who will not aggravate problems ... a candidate for the prime minister should not be a controversial figure."