Thai candidate withdraws from race for top UN job

BANGKOK: Thailand's military-backed premier, Surayud Chulanont, said on Thursday the kingdom's candidate had withdrawn from the race to succeed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Former deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai bowed out of the race after South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon topped a Security Council straw poll, putting him on course to become the next UN secretary general.

"We have to accept the defeat," Surayud told reporters.

Before the coup, Surakiart was in third position in an informal, secret-ballot poll after Ban and India's Shashi Tharoor, currently UN Under Secretary General for Public Affairs.