BANGKOK - Thailand's current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was elected as the new prime minister of the country, President of the National Assembly Chuan Leekpai announced late on Wednesday.

Prayut got 500 votes while his rival Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit got 244. The voting was conducted openly on a roll-call basis at an auditorium used as a makeshift parliament on Chaeng Wattana road.

One only needed a minimum of 375 votes from among a current total of 748 legislators in the House of Representatives and Senate combined to win a simple majority and became the prime minister following the March 24 election.

Prayut, who has run the country since 2014, was heading a meager majority government under a 19-party coalition led by the Palang Pracharath Party.

He is yet to set up a cabinet in which a maximum of 36 persons including himself can be named ministers.