Abhisit Vejjajiva, 44 - educated at Eton and Oxford, was on Sunday elected Prime Minister of Thailand, the third leader to be elected to the top post in as many months, Vejjajiva takes control with a slender majority in Parliament and inherits an economy teetering on the brink of recession.
Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, secured 235 votes from 436 MPs in a special session of Parliament.
The vote took place as 200 Puea Thai supporters in red shirts protested outside Parliament against what they said was the hijacking of democracy by the Democrat Party in collaboration with the army.
Minutes after Vejjajiva emerged the winner, the protesters smashed steel road barriers into the gates of Parliament House and hurled debris at police stationed just inside the ornate fence.
Later, they tried to prevent MPs from leaving the Parliament, and then attacked the vehicles of several Democrat MPs, in some cases smashing windows with chunks of concrete as the cars sped away. Four MPs were reported hurt.
Several protesters were middle aged, working-class women who wept hysterically and screamed obscenities against Vejjajiva and army chief General Anupong Paochinda - widely seen as having helped engineer the new ruling coalition.
Vejjajiva formally thanked MPs who had voted for him, but declined to make any further comment pending the mandatory - and usually routine - endorsement of his election by the King which officials said could come as early as today.
The party's secretary-general Suthep Thuagsuban, a key deal-maker, said the Cabinet line-up should be completed by Friday and a policy statement by Dec 26.
The royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which helped pave the way for yesterday's denouement, said it would observe the functioning of the new coalition and warned that it would take to the streets again in the event of there being anything 'suspicious'.
The PAD had provoked months of political turmoil that climaxed late last month with the previous coalition government paralysed, unable to remove PAD supporters who had occupied the country's two airports.
The new coalition's legitimacy is likely to be challenged soon, with the pro-democracy 'red shirts', many loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, believing their electoral right has been stolen.
Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, secured 235 votes from 436 MPs in a special session of Parliament.
The vote took place as 200 Puea Thai supporters in red shirts protested outside Parliament against what they said was the hijacking of democracy by the Democrat Party in collaboration with the army.
Minutes after Vejjajiva emerged the winner, the protesters smashed steel road barriers into the gates of Parliament House and hurled debris at police stationed just inside the ornate fence.
Later, they tried to prevent MPs from leaving the Parliament, and then attacked the vehicles of several Democrat MPs, in some cases smashing windows with chunks of concrete as the cars sped away. Four MPs were reported hurt.
Several protesters were middle aged, working-class women who wept hysterically and screamed obscenities against Vejjajiva and army chief General Anupong Paochinda - widely seen as having helped engineer the new ruling coalition.
Vejjajiva formally thanked MPs who had voted for him, but declined to make any further comment pending the mandatory - and usually routine - endorsement of his election by the King which officials said could come as early as today.
The party's secretary-general Suthep Thuagsuban, a key deal-maker, said the Cabinet line-up should be completed by Friday and a policy statement by Dec 26.
The royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which helped pave the way for yesterday's denouement, said it would observe the functioning of the new coalition and warned that it would take to the streets again in the event of there being anything 'suspicious'.
The PAD had provoked months of political turmoil that climaxed late last month with the previous coalition government paralysed, unable to remove PAD supporters who had occupied the country's two airports.
The new coalition's legitimacy is likely to be challenged soon, with the pro-democracy 'red shirts', many loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, believing their electoral right has been stolen.
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