TEMPO.CO, Bangkok - Thailand's coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was appointed as interim prime minister on Thursday by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).
Prayuth, who was not present at the time, was voted as Thailand's 29th Prime Minister with 191 votes from the attending 194 members. The President of NLA and both his deputies abstained from the vote, while the other three members were not present.
The General will assume the PM seat after an official inauguration by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Prayuth, who attended the 21st Anniversary of the Queen's Infantry Regiment in Chonburi, said that he did not know that he was elected as the new prime minister. He also said that he will hand over power once a three-phase roadmap of reconciliation, an interim government to oversee reforms and elections is complete. "I didn't know I had been asked to join [the government]," Prayuth said.
The army seized power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of deadly street protests that leads to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The 60-year-old Prayuth will retire as army chief in September 2014, but will remain as head of the junta formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order. The nomination was not a surprise as NLA members who voted in favor of Prayuth are largely considered little more than a rubber stamp parliament tasked with enacting sweeping reforms under the army's watch.
"It is designed to give [Prayuth] the power to run the country according to the law. The premier position will give him legal power in the Thai governance system," Gothom Arya, a lecturer in human rights studies at Mahidol University, told Reuters.
"The prime minister title is just a cosmetic change and the nomination is not unexpected," said one Western diplomat in Bangkok, who wished to remain anonymous. He added that Western nations will continue to press Thailand for progress towards free and fair elections.
XINHUA | REUTERS
