BANGKOK, Thailand - Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who overthrew an elected Thai government three months ago, has decided to shed his uniform and was Thursday appointed as the new prime minister, giving the military absolute powers in the country.

The general was chosen by a legislature whose members he hand-picked to form the National Legislative Assembly last month. Nobody expressed dissent and Prayuth was elected unopposed.

Prayuth was not present at Thursday's vote.

When asked if he had heard the news, Prayuth, who was inspecting troops at an army camp in Chonburi province south of Bangkok, said, "I didn't know I had been asked to join..First, I want the country to move on."

The 60-year-old general, who led the May 22 coup, is due to retire from the military next month. Till then he will hold both positions the prime minister as well as military chief.

Prayuth's appointment must be approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a formality likely to happen within a week. The prime minister will then name a 35-member cabinet for an interim government.

The general has said he plans to press ahead with a year of political reforms before a new election that he said will take place by late 2015.

He has been the de facto prime minister since he ousted then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawa. Thailand's military has a history of intervening in politics and has seized power 12 times since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

Yingluck, the sister of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was earlier forced to step down May 7, after a court found her guilty of abuse of power.

The army later said its move to remove the government two weeks later was necessary to restore order in the country in deep political crisis.

Australia, the United States and the European Union have already downgraded diplomatic ties with Thailand after the coup.

Thailand has been deeply divided for years between supporters of Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, a telecom billionaire who was himself ousted by the army in 2006, and the traditional establishment in the capital and the south.