Junta names ex-Army chief as new premier

Thailandีs junta has appointed a former Army chief to become prime minister as they imposed a Constitution that gives the military a tight grip over the new government.

The junta says that Surayud Chulanont will only lead the country for one year, until elections promised for October 2007.

าI will act on my own conscience as prime minister,ำ Surayud said.

Even though Surayud has a reputation as a military reformer and a man of integrity, analysts warned that his appointment and the military-imposed Constitution signal the junta has no intention of letting go of power any time soon.

าThis Constitution is a step backward, away from democracy,ำ warned Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a political science professor at Thammasat University.
าIf the new Constitution does not look good, the people will hold the (military) council responsible.ำ

The junta has insisted that they staged the coup in support of democracy, which they say had been undermined by endemic corruption during Thaksin Shinawatraีs five years in office.

Surayud, who was sworn in on October 1 in a brief ceremony at Government House, is a career soldier who won respect for professionalising the armed forces after he became Army chief in 1998.

Surayud later clashed with Thaksin and was sidelined in a less powerful post, before he retired in 2003.

He then joined the Privy Council, His Majesty the Kingีs inner circle of advisers, but had to quit that post in order to become prime minister.

The military will also appoint all 250 members of the new parliament, and will approve all members of a new assembly tasked with writing a permanent constitution before the promised elections.