Abhisit Vejjajiva defeated an ally of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a parliamentary vote to become Thailand's fifth head of government in a little over two years.
Mr Abhisit's election marked the first time his Democrat Party - Thailand's oldest - had formed a government in eight years.
The vote was the result of weeks of manoeuvring to persuade several minor parties which had supported the previous government to switch sides.
Mr Abhisit's predecessor, Somchai Wongsawat, an ally of Mr Thaksin, was forced from office in December 2008 by a Constitutional Court ruling that disbanded his People Power Party and barred its leaders from politics for five years.
The ruling came after months of protests by opponents of Mr Thaksin and his allies that closed the country's two main airports.
The protesters said the previous two years' governments were proxies for the discredited Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and has fled Thailand to escape corruption charges.
Mr Abhisit, 44, comes from a wealthy family of Thai-Chinese origins, and was educated at England's top public school, Eton, and Oxford University.
He joined the Democrats in 1992, at the age of 27, becoming its leader in 2005.
His supporters are mainly from Thailand's educated middle class, unlike former PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his allies, who draw their support from working class and rural Thais.
After his election, he said one of his main aims was to re-establish "national harmony" after the deeply polarising politics of recent years.
He also faces the difficult task of restoring confidence in an economy battered by political instability, and the previous government's support base is likely to remain hostile.
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น