BANGKOK: Thailand’s junta yesterday named a majority of active and retired members of the security forces to an interim legislature of 200 people, as it seeks to keep tight control over the body it will task with enacting sweeping reforms.
The armed forces took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The junta had been widely expected to reserve both the majority of the interim legislature and the cabinet for the security forces to keep a tight grip on power during a transition back toward a civilian government.
The assembly will appoint a prime minister to choose a 35-member cabinet. The prime minister is likely to be the commander who led the May 22 coup, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, sources said this week.
He is expected to award top portfolios to members of the junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
The list of 200 members was read out on national television in an evening junta broadcast, which said the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) would hold its first meeting on August 7. Prayuth has said a cabinet will be formed in September.
The transition, mapped out in an interim constitution promulgated last week, offers the NCPO immunity and broad powers to overrule the interim government and the NLA.
The constitution provides for a maximum of 220 assembly members so further appointments may be made later.
A military source said members of Prayuth’s politicised military clique would take cabinet posts.
REUTERS
