Bangkok - Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Wednesday endorsed the election of former opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the country's 27th prime minister.

Abhisit, 44, leader of the Democrat Party which has been in the opposition since 2001, won the premiership Monday by a 235-198 vote in the lower house of parliament.

His selection was not official until it was endorsed by the king, who is head of state under Thailand's constitutional monarchy.

Abhisit said he would name his cabinet on Thursday, comprising ministers from a five-party coalition government.

The Democrats have not led a government since former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra romped to power in the January 2001 general election on the back of a host of populist policies.

Thaksin was ousted by a coup on September 19, 2006, and was banned from politics for five years in May 2007. But he essentially returned to power, behind the scenes, after the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) won the December 23, 2007 polls.

The PPP was dissolved for election fraud on December 2, allowing the Democrats to forge a new coalition government, even though they came in second in the 2007 polls. Thaksin is living in self-exile as a fugitive from a two-year jail sentence on an abuse of power charge.

At 62 years, the Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest party. (dpa)