Bangkok  - Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Thursday officially endorsed the premiership of Somchai Wongsawat, the brother-in-law of coup-ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Thai parliament voted 298 to 163 in favour of Somchai's nomination as prime minister on Wednesday but under Thailand's constitutional monarchy the appointment is not official until it is approved by King Bhumibol, who is head of state.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob flew to Bhumibol's palace in Hua Hin, 150 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, Thursday afternoon to present Somchai's appointment to the king, who endorsed it.

Somchai, now Thailand's 26th prime minister, is expected to name a new cabinet over the weekend which may be presented to the king for approval by Monday.

The finance and foreign minister posts are expected to go to "outsiders," while the rest of the ministerial positions will be divided between the People Power Party (PPP), which Somchai belongs to, and their five coalition partners.

The new government faces a host of problems including a rapidly falling stock market, border disputes over ancient Hindu temples with its neighbour Cambodia and the lack of office space.

Government House, the traditional seat of the administration, was taken over by thousands of followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on August 26 and has been held hostage since.

The PAD was initially demanding the resignation of former prime minister Samak Sundaravej, until he lost his post on September 9 when the Constituion court found him guilty of moonlighting by hosting television cooking shows.

The PAD, a loose coalition of groups staunchly opposed to Thaksin and his return to power, accused Samak of being a "proxy" for the coup-ousted premier.

The movement has now vowed to remain at Government House unless Somchai meets their demands, which include, among others, the revoking of Thaksin's diplomatic passport and pursuing corruption cases against him.

Somchai, 61, is married to Yaowapa, the younger sister of Thaksin who was toppled by a military coup on September 19, 2006, after holding the premiership since 2001.

Despite his close connections to Thaksin, Somchai is deemed a compromiser who is best suited among the PPP candidates to smooth over Thailand's political crisis.

A former judge and bureaucrat at the Justice Ministry, Somchai became acting prime minister after Samak lost his job a week ago. (dpa)