New PM vows to fix "failed" Thai politics

Thailand's new prime minister pledged to fix the country's "failed political system" and work for all Thais, who have been divided by six months of political unrest culminating in a siege of Bangkok's airports.

Abhisit Vejjajiva vowed in his inaugural address to reunite the deeply divided nation and to restore Thailand's tourist-friendly image. The eight-day airport shutdown battered the country's essential tourism industry and stranded more than 300,000 travelers.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country's constitutional monarch, formally endorsed Abhisit's nomination as prime minister Wednesday evening, making him the nation's third prime minister in four months.

Wearing a white ceremonial uniform, Abhisit made overtures to the impoverished rural masses who were the foundation of previous governments' support.

"I will work for all Thai people, both those who voted for me and against me," he said. "Today, our country must be united."

He said his government would retain populist policies _ including cheap credit and health care _ implemented under exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has loomed over Thai politics since he was ousted by a military coup in 2006.

"I am well aware that the political situation is abnormal," said Abhisit, speaking shortly after he was sworn in. "My first job is to end a failed political system."

Abhisit, 44, was voted by Parliament to be the country's prime minister on Monday after a court dissolved the party leading the previous government, which was packed with Thaksin's allies.

His Democrat Party had been in opposition since 2001, when Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, first took power.

From a wealthy family of Thai-Chinese origin, Abhisit was educated at Eton and Oxford, where he earned an honors degree in philosophy, politics and economics. His first name means "privilege" in Thai and his friends call him by his foreign nickname, Mark.

Abhisit joined the country's oldest party, the Democrats, in 1992 and rose in the party ranks and in popularity, especially among the educated in Bangkok who took to his clean record, polite demeanor and articulate if somewhat bland speeches.

His appointment is expected to bring at least a brief period of calm, although the move has unleashed small and sporadic new protests by supporters of the previous government.

Military leaders ousted Thaksin in September 2006, accusing him of corruption, keeping him in exile and controlling the country for an interim period until elections in December 2007 brought Thaksin's allies back into power.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges but later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.

Thailand's recent political convulsions began in August when anti-Thaksin protesters took over the seat of government to demand that Thaksin's allies resign. Since then, a series of court rulings resulted in the ouster of two Thaksin-allied prime ministers.