Abhisit Vejjajiva elected new Prime Minister of Thailand
Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has been officially voted Thailand’s 27th prime minister by a majority of 233-197 votes in Monday’s special session of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Abhisit surpassed former national police chief Pracha Promnok, Puea Pandin party leader, who won support from MPs loyal to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, convicted of corruption charges and now a fugitive at an unknown location.
The new prime minister is expected to be formally named later in the day on Monday.
Hundreds of police were deployed outside Parliament for the session for fear of a street protest as some demonstrators gathered outside the House to protest the vote outcome.
The vote comes in the wake of months of political crisis caused by anti-government protests which saw the country’s two main airports seized last month.
Mr. Abhisit, 44, graduated from Oxford University with first-class honour in philosophy, politics and economics, and later earned a master’s degree in economics at Oxford.
He first won national election in 1992 as an MP for Bangkok at the age of 28, the only Democrat MP elected in the capital that year.
He served as government spokesman in 1992 and as Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office in the government led by the then prime minister Chuan Leekpai in 1997. Mr. Abhisit was elected Democrat party leader in 2005.
However, for some years his party has taken the role as a sole opposition party as it failed to win an outright majority in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Abhisit earlier said building national reconciliation and improving the country’s economy would be his first priority were he to be elected prime minister.
“I think it would be good if the government leader would also lead the economic team,” Mr. Abhisit said. He expressed optimism that he could improve and restore confidence among investors within two to three months.
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