Thailand's ruling People Power Party (PPP) nominated a brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra as its pick for prime minister today, antagonising protesters who accuse the government of being a puppet of the ousted leader.
Somchai Wongsawat (61), has been acting prime minister since last week, when the Constitutional Court fired Samak Sundaravej - also seen as a Thaksin proxy -- for hosting cooking shows on commercial television while in office.
Parliament is due to vote on his nomination on Wednesday.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has occupied the prime minister's official compound for the past three weeks in a bid to unseat the PPP, said it had no doubts that Mr Thaksin would be pulling the strings from London, where he is in exile.
"We all know who Somchai is. Samak was just a nominee but Somchai is the real actor linked to Thaksin's family," PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk told reporters. "We will not give him the benefit of the doubt or give him a honeymoon period."
Mr Somchai's ties to Mr Thaksin - his wife is Thaksin's younger sister - led to frequent cries of nepotism during his time as the top civil servant at the justice ministry. He denies the accusation, noting he got the job before Mr Thaksin came to power.
As acting premier, Mr Somchai lifted a state of emergency at the weekend that Samak had imposed two weeks ago after a bloody street battle between the PAD and a pro-government protest group. One man was killed and dozens injured in the fighting.
The army ignored the state of emergency, refusing to use force to evict the PAD from the prime minister's compound.
Reuters