Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), on Monday promised to alleviate the people's hardships, with rice farmers high on the list, and then return the country to democracy, but would neither confirm nor deny if he would be interim prime minister.
He was speaking after attending a ceremony to receive the royal command officially appointing him the head of the coup junta's NCPO at army headquarters in Bangkok on Monday