Anutin Charnvirakul, a veteran politician best known for successfully lobbying to decriminalise cannabis in Thailand, became the country’s prime minister after receiving a royal endorsement on Sunday, two days after he was chosen by Parliament following a court order that removed his predecessor.

Anutin, 58, succeeds Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the Pheu Thai Party, dismissed last week after being found guilty of ethics violations over a politically compromising phone call with neighbouring Cambodia’s Senate President Hun Sen before a border dispute between the two nations turned into a deadly five-day armed conflict in July that raised fears of a full-blown war.

Thailand’s new prime minister had served in Paetongtarn’s Cabinet as a deputy prime minister and an interior minister, but resigned his positions and withdrew his party from her coalition government after news of the leaked phone call caused public uproar.