Thai army leader named as PM

BANGKOK — Thai junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was yesterday elected Prime Minister in Parliament, in a move that has been widely expected since he seized power in May.

The junta-appointed legislature voted unanimously to name Gen Prayuth to the new job during a session in Bangkok. The 60-year-old leader is due to retire from the army next month, but until then, he can hold both positions.

The appointment not only extends his time at the helm, but also consolidates the military’s grip on power to carry out sweeping political reforms that critics have said are designed to purge the influence of the ousted ruling party and favour an elite minority that has failed to win national elections for more than a decade.

The army seized power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of sometimes deadly street protests that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose populist government was opposed by the Bangkok royalist establishment.

“It is designed to give him the power to run the country according to the law. The Premier position will give him legal power in the Thai governance system,” Associate Professor Gothom Arya, a lecturer in human rights studies at Mahidol University in Bangkok, told Reuters.

Gen Prayuth’s appointment by the National Legislative Assembly must be approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a formality likely to occur within a week. Gen Prayuth will then name a 35-member Cabinet. He has said he plans to press ahead with a year of political reforms before a new election that he said would take place by late next year.

Gen Prayuth has effectively served as de facto Premier since staging the coup. The junta leader, who gives weekly addresses to the country, speaks in a folksy style and often brushes off serious issues with attempts at levity. Unlike previous Thai military strongmen, he had a relatively low profile before becoming the chief of the army in 2010 — a post that many regard as one of the most powerful and influential in a country where the military has seized power 12 times since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.

Yesterday’s vote was the latest in a series of moves by the junta to consolidate power on its own terms. Last month, the military adopted a temporary 48-article Constitution. Shortly afterwards, the junta appointed the members of the National Legislative Assembly, which is dominated by active and retired duty officers.

This week, the normally divisive and cacophonous process of passing an annual budget was dispensed within a few hours when its members voted unanimously to pass it.

Gen Prayuth has justified the coup by saying the army had to intervene to end half a year of protests that had paralysed the government and triggered sporadic violence that left 28 people dead and hundreds injured. While stability has been restored and life has largely returned to normal, the junta has been criticised for cracking down harshly on even the slightest dissent.

Most politicians from the ousted ruling party, including Ms Yingluck, were briefly detained by the army — and released only after signing agreements effectively preventing them from speaking out. Violators, the junta has warned, will face prosecution.

Thailand has been deeply divided since 2006, when former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — Ms Yingluck’s brother — was toppled after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for King Bhumibol. Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire whose political allies have won every national election since 2001, lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai. He is highly popular among the poor in Thailand’s north and north-east, but despised by a Bangkok-based elite backed by the army and staunch royalists who view him as a corrupt demagogue who bought votes with populist promises. Agencies