January 26, 2008	Saturday	Muharram 16, 1429

BANGKOK: Thailand’s parliament is to elect the country’s new prime minister on Monday, an official said, with the leader of a party backing deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra widely tipped for the job.

“My office will issue a letter today calling for a meeting on Monday at 9:30 am (0230 GMT) to vote for the prime minister,” Pitoon Pumhiran, secretary general of the House of Representatives said.

Thaksin’s allies in the People Power Party (PPP) dominate parliament after winning 233 of 480 seats in December elections, the first since the military toppled his government in a bloodless coup in September 2006.

The PPP formed a coalition with five smaller parties and said the party would nominate its bullish leader Samak Sundaravej as Thailand’s new prime minister.

Thaksin has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since the coup, but his wife said this week he would return to Thailand in May.

The former first couple face corruption charges imposed in the wake of the coup but they deny any wrongdoing.—AFP