Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has announced his retirement from politics, promising to stay in charge temporarily, nine years after he took power in a military coup.
His announcement on Tuesday followed the heavy defeat of his military-backed United Thai Nation party in the May 14 election, which won just 36 of the 500 house seats. An upstart movement of young monarchy critics, led by the progressive Move Forward Party, was the single biggest winner in the election.
Prayuth will remain the caretaker premier until a new government is formed.
The former army chief, a staunch royalist, led a military government until an election in 2019 and was chosen by parliament to remain prime minister for four more years.
In the nine years since his coup, Prayuth has survived multiple challenges via court cases, house confidence votes and street protests by opponents who saw him as an opportunist who lacked a public mandate.
His opponents have long claimed the 2019 election result was predetermined, which Prayuth, 69, has denied.
Original from www.aljazeera.com