Friday, September 22 2006 16:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangkok: Thailand's coup leaders today (Sept 22, 2006) received an official royal endorsement as the country's ruling junta in a ceremony broadcast on Thai television. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is head of state under Thailand's constitutional monarchy, had on Wednesday informally endorsed the coup leader and Army's commander-in-chief, General Sonthi Boonyaratklin, as head of the junta. On Friday, Sonthi and members of his Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy, as the junta has styled itself, received an official endorsement as the country's new rulers in a ceremony performed in front of a portrait of the king. "For the sake of stability, we ask the people to be at ease and to obey the instructions of General Sonthi," according to a statement said to be from the king and delivered at a swearing-in ceremony for the junta although the monarch was not himself present. The ceremony was broadcast on all Thai TV stations, which are now under the control of the council. Thailand has been under martial law since Tuesday night with troops and tanks stationed in the capital. At a press conference Wednesday, Sonthi said the junta would run the country for two weeks, after which it would hand power over to an appointed civilian administration to pave the way for a general election within a year. Sonthi mobilised troops and tanks Tuesday night in Bangkok in a bloodless coup that quickly toppled the caretaker government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was in New York attending the UN General Assembly at the time. The junta dissolved the former cabinet, the senate and the constitutional court and abolished the constitution. One of the next government's first tasks will be to draft and approve a new constitution that will presumably guard against the return of a populist prime minister who could gain complete control over the political system, as Thaksin did. Initial opinion polls suggested the coup has been popular among Thais although it has sparked criticism from abroad as a step backwards for democracy. The majority of Thais polled said they believed the coup would help end Thailand's political impasse, which has dragged on since February when Thaksin dissolved parliament in the wave of growing opposition to his rule.