It was the biggest surprise of modern Thai political history when a member of the Thai Royal Family, Princess Ubolratana was today nominated prime ministerial candidate by the newly-formed Thai Raksa Chart party which is closely affiliated with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Her candidacy was registered with the Election Commission as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced this morning that he has accepted Palang Pracharat’s invitation for him to be the party’s candidate for the post-election prime minister.

Both Princess Ubolratana and Prime Minister Prayut are the sole candidates of the Thai Raksa Chart and Palang Pracharat parties respectively although each party has the right to submit three prime ministerial candidates to the Election Commission.

A few days earlier, the Thai Raksa Chart party indicated that the party might nominate a very important “outsider” figure as its candidate for prime minister.

In a statement issued this morning, Prime Minister Prayut thanked the Palang Pracharat party for extending the invitation for him, saying that he was confident that the party’s policies would complement the achievements and projects that his government has been doing.

He said that it was not an easy decision for him to jump into politics after having spent almost his whole life in military profession.