Thailand: General Prayuth Chan-ocha faces new choices

Thailand's military government has announced the possibility of forming an interim government in September, a month after a legislative council is set up to draft a new constitution.

The interim government is expected to operate alongside the National Reform Council and a new prime minister will be chosen by the Legislative Assembly.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha. (Source: THX/TTXVN)

This roadmap coincides with the retirement of General Prayuth Chan-ocha and it is creating public opinion about the possibility that he will hold the position of head of the new interim government.

In the list of officers retiring in the second annual military reshuffle in 2014, announced by the Thai Ministry of Defense, the head of the military government and his deputies such as Supreme Commander Thanasak Patimapakorn, Navy Commander Narong Pipattanasai and Air Force Commander Prajin Juntong will all have to retire.

This could lead to the possibility that Mr. Prayuth will take over as prime minister to continue comprehensive reforms in Thailand, while creating opportunities for other officers to advance to command positions in the country's armed forces.

Thai media reported that most military officers believed that Mr Prayuth would take over as prime minister after he retires in September. In the history of coups in Thailand, the military government has only chosen someone else to be prime minister of a caretaker government twice, in 1991 and 2006.

Most Thais believe they need a strong and decisive leader to completely change the country before democratic elections can be held.

According to General Noppadol Wattanotai, Thailand needs a leader with enough courage to implement changes and eliminate the old electoral mechanism so that vote buying and selling does not take place. There needs to be a new electoral mechanism that does not allow people to buy their support, does not allow money to be invested in buying and selling votes. Only then can democracy and fairness be ensured.

General Prayuth now enjoys the support of both the anti-government protest movement and the former yellow shirts as well as Thais fed up with nearly a decade of political conflict.

However, General Prayuth also has another option, which is to continue to hold the position of commander of the Peace and Order Council to continue to supervise the activities of the new interim government. With this option, it is unclear whether Mr. Prayuth will resign as army commander or not.

If this happens, will there be a power struggle between the new prime minister and the head of the military government? Of course, the person appointed as the new prime minister must be someone that Mr. Prayuth trusts.

The 2006 coup installed Surayud Chulanont as interim prime minister, but he has repeatedly asserted his independence from the military.

After more than eight years of implementation and many changes of government, the determination to eliminate corruption and the threat to the system still exists. As a result, the coup did not achieve the goal of completely removing the "Thaksin regime," as evidenced by the Thai military's re-coup on May 22./.

According to VNA