Thai army dissolves the country’s parliament
(VOVworld) - The Thai Army announced it has dissolved the country's Senate and handed the parliamentary power to the army chief, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a coup to topple PM Yingluck Shiwanatra’s government on Thursday. A televised broadcast military's statement stated that Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha will have the authority over any proceeding that has to be approved by the House of Representatives or the Senate. Gen. Prayuth declared himself prime minister Thursday before he introduced Thailand's governing body on Friday, by which heads of the armed forces were assigned to take over ministries and security. One of the new government's key tasks to is to pay the rice debts to Thai farmers. General Prayuth has pledged to find any possible sources to pay the farmers before inter-governmental rice contracts are temporarily suspended. It is expected that the debts will be settled within the next 20 days.
Thai Army chief General Prayuth Cha-ocha during a news conference declaring martial law. Photo: Reuters
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In another statement announced on Saturday, the army said that Thailand's ousted civilian leaders are being held at military buildings. An army spokesperson, Colonel Vinthai Svari said that approximately 150 people including PM Yingluck Shinawatra, former PM Somchai Wonsawat and his wife Yaowapa are being detained for being directly or indirectly involved in streets chaos. Colonel Vinthai affirmed that they are all safe and would be detained for 1 week at the maximum.