BANGKOK: Thailand’s coup leader was elected prime minister yesterday by the kingdom’s junta-appointed legislature without a single opposing vote, raising fears of a new era of “strongman” leadership.
Army chief General Prayut Chan-Ocha, 60, who ousted an elected government in a bloodless takeover on May 22, was the only contender for the premiership.
The move by the top general to take the post, while also remaining junta boss, is seen as cementing the military’s control of the politically turbulent nation. “He has taken all the power so I cannot help but worry that we will enter the period of a strongman,” said Gothom Arya, a lecturer at Thailand’s Mahidol University.
The junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has ruled out holding new elections before around October 2015 despite international appeals for a return to democracy.
“The generals clearly do not plan to restore democracy,” said Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch.
“Instead of paving the way for a return to democratic civilian rule, the NCPO has granted itself unchecked authority to do almost anything it wants, including committing rights abuses with impunity.”
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.
AFP
