Thailand to hold PM vote next week as new coalition eyes power
THAILAND’S parliament will meet next week to select a new prime minister, after a court ruling cleared a legal hurdle that had held up the selection process for nearly a month.
A joint session of the elected House of Representatives and the military-appointed Senate will be held on Aug 22, Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha told reporters on Wednesday (Aug 16).
The announcement of the new schedule came after the constitutional court dismissed a petition challenging a parliament decision last month to deny pro-democracy leader Pita Limjaroenrat a second shot at the prime minister’s job. The nine-member court unanimously rejected the plea, saying the plaintiffs were not eligible to challenge the parliament move as their rights were not directly violated.
Srettha Thavisin, a property tycoon, is set to seek parliamentary approval as the prime ministerial candidate of a new coalition headed by Pheu Thai, a party linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The party has tied up with some conservative outfits after it broke away from a Pita-led coalition.
Investors are betting that the realignment of political parties with Pheu Thai at the helm will help install a new government more than three months after the May general election.
With the gridlock sending Thai stocks almost 10 per cent lower this year, there is growing pressure for the new administration to support the economy’s fragile recovery, curb high household debt and keep costs of living in check.
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The Pheu Thai-led alliance, which is now backed by 238 lawmakers in the House of Representatives, needs to drum up support from either the Senate or from military-backed parties that it had opposed in the past.
Senate role
Srettha will need the support of the majority of 750 lawmakers in the joint National Assembly, which combines the elected lower house and the Senate that’s stacked with allies of the pro-military royalist establishment.
Move Forward, which won 151 seats in the elected house, has ruled out support for Srettha, saying Pheu Thai’s efforts to form the government with the backing of conservative parties are against the results of the election.
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The court decision ended Move Forward’s chances of leading the government though it had emerged as the single largest party in the election. Pita’s supporters had moved the court after conservative lawmakers and military-appointed senators blocked him from seeking a second vote to become premier. Harvard-educated Pita had failed to secure enough support in his first attempt.
The Office of the Ombudsman asked the court to review the parliament decision after it was approached by legal experts and a lawmaker and members of Pita’s Move Forward Party.
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