| 11 September 2008 |
 |
| Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej (File) |
A spokesman for the People's Power Party says the majority of members selected Mr. Samak during a meeting in Bangkok Thursday. Earlier this week, Mr. Samak was forced to resign after the Constitutional Court ruled he broke the law by accepting payment for appearing on a television cooking show while in office.
The PPP, the largest in Thailand's six-party ruling coalition, faced opposition from its coalition partners over Mr. Samak's nomination.
News agencies say the 73-year-old Mr. Samak has accepted the party's nomination.
Thailand has been mired in a political crisis since an anti-government group (People's Alliance for Democracy) seized control of Bangkok's Government House late last month, demanding Mr. Samak's resignation.
The group accused Mr. Samak of being a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr. Thaksin was deposed in 2006 by a military coup. He is living in exile in Britain to avoid a slew of corruption charges against him.
Deputy Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat is serving as acting prime minister. The court ruled the Cabinet also must step down, but could stay on as a caretaker government for 30 days.
Army commander Anupong Paochina says he has urged Mr. Somchai to lift a state of emergency imposed by Mr. Samak last week after clashes between pro- and anti-government forces left one dead and many others injured.
Paochina says the declaration is hurting Thailand's economy.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP
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