Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan due to lack of buyers. On 30 June 2013 he was appointed Minister of Commerce and a deputy prime minister in the cabinet of Yingluck Shinawatra. On 7 May 2014, Niwatthamrong became acting Prime Minister following the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and several members of her cabinet from office. On 22 May 2014 he was himself removed from office following a military coup. Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan (, , ; born 25 January 1948) is a Thai businessman and politician who served as the acting Prime Minister of Thailand following Yingluck Shinawatra's removal from office by the Constitutional
2006 Thai coup d'état replied: "I will." This contradicted earlier public statements where he denied that the military would stage a coup. "The Nation" noted that the timing of the coup contains many instances of the number nine, a highly auspicious number in Thai [[numerology]]. The coup occurred at the 19th day of the 9th month of [[Buddhist Era]] 2549. Coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin made a major public announcement on the morning after the coup at 9.39 am. "The Nation" earlier indicated 09:16 as the time for Sonthi's press conference and the [[Buddhist calendar]] is in line with the [[Gregorian calendar]] only since 1941.