The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Bangkok

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Sunday agreed to resign if he lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament, but he remained defiant in the face of anti-government protesters who have surrounded his office, vowing to oust him.

Thousands of demonstrators who broke through a police cordon on Friday continued to occupy the area around Thailand's seat of government.

The protesters, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy movement, claim Samak's government is a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

"I will not bow to your pressure. I will pull out only if I am defeated by a vote in Parliament," Samak told the protesters in a national address Sunday. He said he would allow the opposition, which introduced the no-confidence measure, to grill him next week. The measure will be debated on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Samak's coalition partners, who control about two-thirds of the seats in the lower house of Parliament, would have to desert him for the motion to pass.

While the law requires the resignation of prime ministers who lose such motions, Samak appeared to stress that unlike other Thai leaders in the past he would not use extraconstitutional means to cling to power.

But earlier, Suriyasai Katsila, a spokesman for the anti-government alliance, said the parliamentary debate would not be enough.