Bangkok: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej endorsed a stop-gap constitution on Sunday which the army says will be in place until a new long-term charter is drawn up in around nine months after September's bloodless military coup.
As national television announced the charter, Government House staff were busy preparing for the swearing in of General Surayud Chulanont, a retired army commander-in-chief, as interim civilian prime minister, officials told Reuters.
''We have contacted General Surayud in preparation for today's ceremony,'' said a protocol official. Surayud, who is now a royal adviser, was due to arrive half an hour before the ceremony starts at 1645 pm (1515 hrs IST), another government source said.
Although a career military man, Surayud, 63, has a reputation as a reformer who recognised the need to keep soldiers out of politics in a country which has now seen 18 coups in seven decades of democracy.
Despite promises not to interfere, doubts remain about the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR) -- as the coup leaders call themselves -- given that they are staying on as a Council for National Security with the power to fire the interim government.
''People respect him very highly, but it's not about him any more. It's not about Surayud as a person. It's all about the CDR,'' said one Bangkok-based human rights worker who asked not to be identified.
Having ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on September 19 without a shot being fired, the coup leaders promised to hand power to a civilian government within two weeks, a deadline that expires on October 4.
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