Thailand's Parliament to hold vote on new prime minister on Aug 22

BANGKOK – Thailand’s Parliament will meet to vote on a new prime minister on next Tuesday, House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha told reporters on Wednesday.

The schedule was announced just hours after Thailand’s Constitutional Court refused to hear a case on the thwarted bid by Mr Pita Limjaroenrat, whose Move Forward Party (MFP) topped the May General Election, to become prime minister.

Thailand has been crippled by a political stalemate that has gripped the country since the election.

MFP won the most seats in Parliament, riding a wave of support from young and urban Thais to end nearly a decade of army-backed rule.

But the Harvard-educated Pita was defeated in his bid to become prime minister by a nexus of conservative forces spooked by his pledges to reform royal insult laws and business monopolies.

He dropped out of the running after Parliament rejected him in a first prime ministerial vote and then denied him a second.

The Pheu Thai party of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, which came second in the election, is now set to lead a multi-party coalition government without the participation of MFP.

Pheu Thai leaders have said the party will nominate business tycoon Srettha Thavisin for prime minister, and they are confident he will get enough votes to be approved.

To become prime minister, a candidate must be approved by a majority of both houses of Parliament – the 500 elected MPs and the 250 senators appointed under the last junta.

Last week the Bhumjaithai party – which was part of the outgoing military-backed government – joined Pheu Thai’s new coalition.

Bhumjaithai, best known for delivering on a 2019 campaign promise to legalise cannabis in Thailand, had insisted it would not join a coalition containing MFP. AFP, REUTERS