The struggle for power continued for years, and led a disgruntled Sarit Thanarat (a general who seized power in a 1957 coup d'etat), to pass another sangha act in 1962. The act removed most democratic provisions from the sangha administration and centralized power around the sangharaja. It affirmed that "absolute rule" of the sangha by one leader was best and allowed the sangharaja to appoint from half to two thirds of the elders in the supreme council. The act also allowed for the removal of the sangharaja by the secular authority, practically subordinating the sangha to the state in the most direct manner possible.