Thailand's largest political party on Monday nominated Somchai Wongsawat, the brother-in-law of coup-ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, as its candidate to be the kingdom's next prime minister, reported dpa.
Somchai, who has been acting prime minister since September 9 when former premier Samak Sundaravej lost his post, was nominated to replace Samak at an executive meeting of the People Power Party (PPP), party leader Kuthep Saikrachang said.
"The PPP executives decided the candidate with the best qualifications to become the prime minister in Samak's place was Somchai," said Kuthep.
Somchai's nomination will be voted on by the PPP members Monday afternoon, and thereafter his name forwarded to the party's five coalition partners for consideration.
Parliament is scheduled to meet Wednesday to vote on the next prime minister.
Somchai is married to a sister of former premier Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who was ousted by a military coup on September 19, 2006 on charges of corruption, dividing the nation and undermining Thailand's democratic system and the monarchy.
A former permanent secretary at the Justice Ministry, Somchai is deemed a reputable alternative to Samak, who was sacked last week, but his nomination is unlikely to appease anti-government protests that have held Thailand's political system hostage for the past three weeks.
Thailand's Constitution Court on September 9 found Samak guilty of violating the charter's stipulations against holding outside employment while prime minister by moonlighting as a television cooking show host, and forced him to quit his post.
Initially the PPP, which holds 223 out of 480 seats in the Lower House of Parliament, renominated Samak as its candidate to become the next premier, despite the court's ruling and growing opposition to his rule.
Samak, 73, was finally forced to withdraw from the race after Parliament on Friday failed to attract a quorum to vote on the new prime minister, a not-so-subtle snub for Samak's candidacy from dissident factions of his party.
Samak had been under intense pressure to resign since August 26, when thousands of followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seized Government House and occupied the seat of Thailand's government administration.
The PAD protestors, who demanded Samak's resignation as a proxy for Thaksin, have vowed to continue their demonstration at Government House if Somchai is elected the next prime minister.
The PAD is a loose coalition of groups adamantly opposed to a return of Thaksin's populist politics.
They view the PPP, which won the most seats in the December 23, 2007, general election on a pro-Thaksin platform, as a proxy party for Thaksin and his political allies who have been barred from politics by a Constitution Tribunal ruling in May 2007.
Samak attempted to force the PAD out of Government House on September 2 by declaring a state of emergency in the capital, but the military, responsible for implementing the decree, refused to use force to end the demonstration.
The state of emergency was lifted Sunday, much to the relief of Thailand's tourism industry.
"Lifting the state of emergency should help, although you wouldn't have known it was in place unless you read the newspapers," aid Luzi Matzig, chief executive officer of Asian Trails, a tour company catering to the European market.