BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Parliament has convened for a vote that is expected to keep Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister five years after he seized power by military coup.

The military-backed party that nominated Prayuth won the second-highest number of seats in the House of Representatives in the March general election.

His election is virtually assured because the prime minister is chosen in a joint vote of the 500-seat House and the 250-seat Senate, whose members were appointed by the junta Prayuth leads.

He had the support of the military-backed Palang Pracharath party, which holds 116 House seats, as well as lawmakers from smaller parties, before the vote Wednesday.