Former Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej dies of cancer

BANGKOK, Nov 24 (TNA) – Former prime minister Samak Sundaravej died of liver cancer at a Bangkok hospital at the age of 74 Tuesday morning.

Mr Samak passed away at Bumrungrad International Hospital after spending more than one year in hospital fighting the fatal disease.

The funeral will be held at Benjamaborpit Temple and a royally-sponsored bathing rite is set for Wednesday.

Mr Samak, Thailand’s 25th prime minister, was born on June 13, 1935.  Graduating from the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, he began his political career as a member of the Democrat Party in 1968 and was a Bangkok MP for the Democrat Party in 1975.

He established his Thai Citizens Party in 1979. He took ministerial posts in several ministries, but resigned to enter the Bangkok governorship election in 2000 and became Bangkok governor in a landslide victory.

Elected prime minister under the People Power party in elections in December 2007, the first general elections since a bloodless military coup that toppled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr Samak was forced out of office in September 2008 following a verdict by the Constitution Court, which found him guilty of violating the Constitution by having received payment for hosting a TV cooking show. (TNA)