The former army chief who led the 2006 military coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra was named leader of a new political party, Matuphum (Motherland), on Wednesday.
Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, 63, said he accepted the leadership because the party's campaign platform was to restore unity to the country.
"I accepted the position because this party has impartial policies which could lead to national reconciliation.
"The country’s main problem now is social division and it needs to be settled rapidly," Gen Sonthi said.
Asked how he hoped to work with the main opposition party, the pro-Thaksin Puea Thai party, when he was the person who brought down the Thaksin government, Gen Sonthi said his political activities will centre on bringing benefit to the country.
“I cannot say which political camps my party will work with in the future," he said.
Gen Sonthi said people should not think that he staged a military coup to prepare the way for his entering politics.
He was confident there would be no dissolution of parliament in the near future, because the Democrat-led coalition government was stable.
Puea Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said Gen Sonthi's decision to lead the Matuphum Party just showed that the military coup was a total failure.
It did not benefit Thailand in any way and had been a waste of time - time that could have been better used developing the country, he said.
He then called on the military leadership to cease any further thoughts about a future coup, because it would not, could not, solve the problems besetting the country.
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