Party picks Thaksin kin for PM

Thailand's ruling People Power Party (PPP) nominated a brother-in-law of Thaksin Shinawatra as its pick for prime minister yesterday, antagonizing protesters who accuse the government of being a puppet of the ousted leader.

Somchai Wongsawat, 61, has been acting prime minister since last week, when the Constitutional Court fired Samak Sundaravej - also seen as a Thaksin proxy - for hosting cooking shows on commercial television while in office.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has occupied the prime minister's official compound for the past three weeks in a bid to unseat the PPP, said it had no doubts that Thaksin would be pulling the strings from London, where he is in exile.