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Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected as Thailand’s 27th Prime Minister by the country’s lawmakers today, bringing slim hopes that months of street rallies and chaos will come to an end.

  He received 235 votes to beat former police chief and Puea Pandin leader Pracha Phromnok who obtained 198, as the election went on smoothly without any major disruptions, unlike previous sessions which had seen clashes between police and anti-government protesters.

The British-born Abhisit, 44, will replace Somchai Wongsawat who was disqualified by the Constitution Court early this month when the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) was dissolved for election fraud. He is the fifth premier in 27 months, and the third in a space of three months.

His victory, and Democrat’s return to power after a seven-year lapse, came after a small group of former PPP members associated with former minister Newin Chidchob jumped ship, as well as several parties who were part of the previous six-party coalition government under Somchai.

Abhisit, who graduated from Oxford University, entered politics at the age of 27 when he became the member of parliament for a constituency in Bangkok. But he is not the youngest premier as speculated earlier as Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram and M.R. Senee Pramoj took office at the age of 41 and 40 years respectively.
He had served as the party’s spokesman, Government spokesman, Deputy-Secretary to the Prime Minister, Chairman of the House Education Affairs Committee, and Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office when Democrat was in power.

The country’s oldest party lost power when Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai (TRT) swept to victory in the 2001 general election on the backdrop of the 1997/98 economic crisis. Thaksin again won in 2005 but was ousted by the military in September, 2006.

The Thai Parliament has 480 members, but currently there are only 437 MPs after the dissolution of PPP, Chart Thai and Matchima by the court and their executive members banned for five years, while a Democrat MP died this morning.

Despite having about 200 MPs in their ranks, Pheu Thai, a made up of Thaksin’s supporters after their PPP was dissolved, did not field its own candidate but supported Pracha to avoid another conflict with anti-Thaksin group which had organised street protests for 192 days.

The anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) had vowed to return to the street if another Thaksin nominee comes to power, and had indirectly supported Abhisit’s candidacy.

The Kingdom has been in political and economic turmoil since anti-government protesters hit the streets on May 25, and subsequently seized the Prime Minister’s Office on Aug 26 before closing down Bangkok’s two major airports at the end of last month.

On Saturday, Thaksin, in a recorded speech from overseas, addressed over 50,000 supporters gathered at a stadium here where he blasted the military for interfering in the selection of a new prime minister as speculation was rife that Army Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda had told smaller parties and Newin’s faction to support Abhisit.

A small group of Thaksin supporters clad in their famous red shirts tried to block the Parliament gates after Abhisit’s victory was announced but was kept at bay by riot police.

Abhisit was criticised in the past by government supporters for quietly backing PAD during their street rallies, and several of Democrat leaders were also part of the group which first came to prominence when they held massive demonstrations against Thaksin in 2006.