Thai army chief named prime minister

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-157430-Thai-army-chief-named-prime-minister



BANGKOK: Thailand´s junta-picked national assembly on Thursday chose coup leader General Prayut Chan-O-Cha as prime minister in a one-horse race that entrenched the military´s hold on power.

Thai army chief named prime minister
By AFP
August 21, 2014 - Updated 930 PKT

Nobody in the rubber-stamp legislature opposed the selection of the army chief, who ousted an elected government in a bloodless takeover on May 22.The move by the top general to shed his uniform and take the premiership is seen as cementing the military´s control of the politically turbulent nation.

The junta has ruled out holding new elections before around October 2015, despite appeals from the United States and the European Union for a return to democracy.

Prayut, who is due to retire as army chief in September, is seen as a staunch opponent of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose overthrow in an earlier coup in 2006 triggered Thailand´s long-running political crisis.

Thaksin, the elder brother of Yingluck, fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid prison for a corruption conviction.