Old Etonian chosen as new Thai PM

A FORMER Etonian and Oxford graduate was today elected prime minister of Thailand by a majority of 37 after a special vote in parliament.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the country's opposition Democratic Party, gained 235 votes against 198 for former national police chief Pracha Promnok, a loyalist of the exiled former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Red-shirted pro-Thaksin demonstrators tried to block the gates of Parliament House in the capital Bangkok in an attempt to prevent the outcome of the vote before riot police cleared a path for lawmakers to leave the compound.

Demonstrators later dispersed peacefully but warned that they would gather again later today in the capital's old historic section.

Mr Vejjajiva, 45, who was born in Newcastle and is married with two children, becomes Thailand's 27th prime minister. The softly spoken former classmate of Boris Johnson had to do a deal "with the devil" to succeed, forming a coalition with factions run by the "godfathers" of Thai politics.

The People's Alliance for Democracy, which recently occupied Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, supported Mr Vejjajiva, because they regard him as "clean".