FILE PHOTO: Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha arrives to attend a weekly cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/Files

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The head of Thailand’s military junta, Prayuth Chan-ocha, said on Friday he will contest March 24 elections as a candidate for prime minister.

Prayuth, the army chief who seized power from a democratic government in a 2014 coup and made himself prime minister, said in a statement he would run as a candidate for the pro-military Palang Pracharat.

One of his main opponents will be the sister of Thailand’s king, who was nominated on Friday by a party loyal to ousted populist prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.