The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday officially endorsed Chadchart Sittipunt as the winner of the May 22 Bangkok governor election, with the new governor reiterating his message of unity.
The EC also certified the victories of five more city councillors after endorsing 40 on Monday, raising the total to 45 out of 50.
Mr Chadchart, 56, a former Pheu Thai heavyweight who ran as an independent, was elected with a record-breaking 1.38 million votes.
But as of Monday, the EC had yet to endorse his victory, saying it needed to investigate complaints about alleged irregularities in the gubernatorial election before making its decision.
Activist Srisuwan Janya registered several complaints against Mr Chadchart.
Mr Srisuwan accused Mr Chadchart of having a hidden agenda of vote buying by designing campaign posters that could be converted into shopping bags or aprons. He also accused Mr Chadchart of breaking the law by attacking the bureaucracy in his campaign speeches.
Mr Chadchart called on his supporters not to put pressure on the EC to certify his victory.
Media reported that the 1444 EC hotline was flooded with calls from people on Monday wanting to know if Mr Chadchart's victory would be endorsed.
Upon learning of the EC's decision yesterday, Mr Chadchart thanked those who voted for him and pledged to be a representative of all 31 candidates who ran for the governorship.
During the past five days he has been on an inspection tour of the city, saying he hoped for a better future where all political parties could walk together and overcome their differences.
"We will see positive and dynamic changes from cooperation from all sides," the new governor said.
He added his tour was a warning to contractors of some infrastructure projects that they must deal with the problems that held back their construction progress.
Mr Chadchart also said he was free of worries about the complaints filed by Mr Srisuwan. He added he did not think the complaints were politically motivated.
The new governor said he would unveil today his deputies and political and technical advisers.
