New Thai prime minister is third in as many months

OPPOSITION leader Abhisit Vejjajiva became Thailand’s third prime minister in as many months yesterday, taking control with a slender majority in parliament and an economy on the brink of recession.

In a sign of the trouble in store for the Oxford-educated economist, 200 supporters of the government sacked by the courts two weeks ago blocked access to parliament after the vote and smashed windows of cars carrying MPs from his Democrat Party.

Chanting “Abhisit, army nominee,” the red-shirted demonstrators denounced the 44-year-old as a front man for the military, which ousted elected leader Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 and has been accused of political meddling ever since.