Profile: a decent man elected by disreputable means |

British-born Old Etonian Abhisit Vejjajiva was this morning elected the new prime Minister of Thailand, triggering new protests outside Parliament House in Bangkok.

The 44-year-old former Opposition leader scraped into power, winning as many as 235 parliamentary votes to 198 after many days of intense politicking and a number of defections from the government parties.

He will lead a coalition government after winning the vote nearly two weeks after a court dissolved the ruling party linked to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

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Dozens of angry Thaksin supporters clad in red shirts clashed with police and threw traffic barriers outside the gates of parliament to try to prevent lawmakers from leaving after the parliament.

"Abhisit gained more than half of the vote, therefore I declare that Abhisit has been voted as the new prime minister," House Speaker Chai Chidchob announced.

Mr Abhisit becomes the troubled Asian nation's third prime minister in four months. Sitting in the chamber of Parliament House, Mr Abhisit looked calm as each politician stood and declared their allegiance, many taking the opportunity to say a few words. The result was unsure to the very end, with Puea Thai – the reincarnation of the ruling People Power Party – late last week still insisting it could still retain office, even though a key defector had taken as many as 35 MPs with him to support Mr Abhisit and the Democrat party.

Before the vote began, politicians grouped in huddles, looking anxious and harried.

Thai newspapers reported that Mr Abhisit's party had sequestered a number of the defecting politicians in hotels on Sunday night to ensure they were not wooed backed to the former government coalition, aligned with Thaksin, the deposed and exiled telecoms billionaire.

Once the vote was tallied and Mr Abhisit's victory assured he was surrounded by a phalanx of politicians conveying their good wishes.

Wearing a broad smile he clasped hands and nodded his head at supporters. It is believed he has promised a number of cabinet posts to the coalition parties that supported him.

Mr Abhisit, who was born in Newcastle to Thai parents and educated at Eton and Oxford, has given no immediate indication of the direction his government would take but has previously said his priorities were restoring the economy and forging political unity after months of turmoil.

Outside the parliament a hundred or so pro-government activists in red shirts gathered, with an activist leader shouting the vote was morally wrong, illegal, and a "judicial coup".

The People Power Party, until earlier this month the ruling party in the government coalition, was dissolved by the Constitutional Court following a finding of electoral fraud. At the same time, former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat was deposed and banned from holding political office for five years. At first the government's red-shirt supporters were confident another government could be formed from the majority of MPs who still held office, but a series of defections to the Opposition led, finally, to Mr Abhisit's victory this morning.

When they heard of the vote, the red-shirt activists threw police barricades against the locked gates of parliament, trying to prevent politicians from leaving, but their numbers were few and they were easily overwhelmed by platoons of riot police.

Their opponents, the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy activists who brought Thailand to a standstill with their siege of Bangkok's airports, count Mr Abhisit's win as their own. Expressing intense hatred for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and all his allies, they have fought to have Thaksin-aligned parties permanently removed from office.

A pre-recorded video of former Prime Minister Thaksin, whose Thai Rak Thai party was succeeded by the People Power Party, was played to a pro-government rally on Saturday night, where as many as 50,000 red-clad activists roared their approval.

They had originally expected a live phone-in, which was called off, a hitch considered by many to be a sign of Mr Thaksin's waning influence. In the video, Mr Thaksin warned political defectors that their names would be remembered by a loyal populace, and would lose office at the next election. His supporters come mainly from the poor and rural north-east, and it appears they were not told to rally at Parliament House this morning.

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