Despite all these plays, Prayuth is on the cusp of becoming one of the longest-serving Thai prime ministers in history. In a combined ballot of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the parliament on Wednesday reinstalled him for a second term with 500 votes in favour and 244 for his rival, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a charismatic political newcomer.

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Some Thais were unhappy about the outcome, with hashtag #RIPTHAILAND and #NotMyPM trending on Thai Twitter in the aftermath.

“I was disappointed because I’m part of a new generation and I hope that the country could move forward to be better than it is now,” Suchanya Boonchu, 19, told Reuters.

Prayuth’s unpopularity among millennials is not new, but it has yet to spur a change in Thai politics. “Prayuth’s character has always been criticised as immature and laughed at,” said Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political scientist at Sukhothai Thammathirat University. “But he could be in the job for the next few years at the very least.”

If that occurs, Prayuth will have served as prime minister for eight unobstructed years – as long as the late privy council chief General Prem Tinsulanonda, who held office through parliamentary consensus during the 1980s.

Academics have called for Prayuth to follow General Prem’s example: not the former leader’s reputation as the “silent one” for never giving interviews while in power, but his decision at the end of his term in 1988 that “It is enough”.

“The tangible outcome of the junta’s efforts came out in the form of the 2017 constitution and the appointment of the senate and members of independent organisations,” Yutthaporn said.

“These factors will help him for the next few years in office. The senate can help him pass laws in the parliament and censure debate is only allowed to happen once a year.”

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Other observers agreed there is a “planned” effort to create the “Prayuth regime” whose influence will be on par with that of General Prem’s, whom the military and pro-establishment faction looked up to.

“Prayut has succeeded in becoming parliamentary prime minister because of the combined efforts of the junta and royalist aristocracy through a manipulated election and co-opted political parties,” said Paul Chambers, a lecturer in international relations at Naresuan University.

“With the installation of the Palang Pracharat government, with Gen Prayuth as prime minister, everything has gone to plan,” said Patrick Jory, a Southeast Asian History academic at the University of Queensland. “The aim is to ensure tight military-bureaucratic control over politics, while allowing a semblance of democratic governance to give the new government some legitimacy.”

Prayuth graduated from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in 1976 and spent the next few decades of his career in the 21st Infantry Regiment, also known as the Queen’s Guards or the “eastern tigers” corps.

It is here where he forged long-standing friendship with General Prawit Wongsuwon and General Anupong Paochinda, who are the Defence and Interior Ministers respectively in his administration. Both are powerful eastern tigers who have been viewed as opponents of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra since he was ousted in the 2006 coup under allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

Prawit and Anupong have been influential within the junta, with Prawit personally overseeing the Senate selection. The process or the selection criteria have never been declared publicly.

Prayuth rose steadily through the ranks, before being appointed an army chief in October 2010, months after the military crackdown on the redshirts, who were staunch supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra.

When Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra took over as prime minister the following year, Prayuth was seen by her side on several occasions, as the Shinawatra clan tried to mend ties with the army, most notably during the major floods of 2011.

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But after her administration passed the amnesty bill in late 2013 to pave way for Thaksin Shinawatra’s safe return, street protests ensued. Yingluck called a snap election that was later invalidated, but was seen as a pretext for the bloodless coup led by Prayuth months later. The general said at the time it was “the hardest decision” he had to make in his life.

Ever since the junta took power in 2014, it has enjoyed warm relations with China – in part due to the overtures it made to Beijing to ease the impact of sanctions from the West. The Obama administration, for example, cut ties with Thailand after the coup, prompting the kingdom to rely more on China for defence equipment and training.

The junta has also welcomed Chinese investors to its flagship infrastructure project, the Eastern Economic Corridor, and in April, Thailand pledged to join Chinese president Xi Jinping’s ambitious infrastructure project to boost global trade, the Belt and Road Initiative.

Thailand has also begun building one phase of its high-speed railway meant to connect its northeastern reaches to Kunming on the mainland to Laos. When it is completed, the railway expected to boost the kingdom’s fortunes as a hub and gateway to Southeast Asia for China. There is talk the kingdom is considering a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China to fund the railway but this has given rise to concerns that it might weigh the kingdom down with excessive debt.

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Peter Mumford, head of Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Eurasia Group said while China’s role in infrastructure development would continue to increase, Prayuth’s government would not agree to everything Beijing demanded.

“For example, although the junta was desperate to secure a breakthrough on the China-backed Bangkok-Laos railway ahead of the elections, it held firm on its key demands and continued to negotiate with Beijing,” Mumford said, in a report on Wednesday.

China’s influence in Thailand would continue to strengthen, he added, but the latter would not move “fully into China’s orbit – ties with the US and Japan, in particular, also remain a priority.”

“Although the ‘electoral/transition’ process was stacked in the junta’s favour, the fact that the poll took place will likely be sufficient for the US, European Union and other Western powers to fully re-engage with Thailand, cognisant that they have lost strategic and commercial ground to China in recent years,” Mumford said.

Before the March election this year, Prayuth never went on the campaign trail with his political vehicle, the Palang Pracharat party, as he did not want to be seen as a typical politician. Instead, he fashioned a reputation for himself as the antithesis to corrupt and greedy politicians who he vowed to get rid of while in power.

Still, it is unlikely his next term in office will be exactly like his last.

“Though Prayuth has a strong man’s personality and an army background with clear support from conservative forces, he will have to contend with a growing number of Thai people who want to move away from a military dominant political regime,” Chambers said. “This would be felt through likely opposition to him via the lower house and demonstrations.”

University of Queensland’s Jory said the “situation is still uncertain” for Prayuth.

“The PM no longer has the emergency powers like Article 44 that he had during the period of the military junta, so he will face more criticism and opposition,” he said.

“Governing will not be as easy as it was under the military regime. But we should not underestimate the willingness of Thailand’s conservative establishment to ensure that it remains in control of Thailand’s political scene.”