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
Gen Prayuth stressed his belief that the NCPO had to take control of national administration to solve national problems. He said Thailand had faced serious problems for nine years and the people had suffered
The coup markers on Monday faced rising criticism from academics and nongovernmental organisations over controversial orders seeking to bar schlars, analysts and the media from making comments about them