The Thai Constitutional Court's decision to temporarily suspend Pita Limjaroenrat's parliamentary status has added to the tension in the race for prime minister .
Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled that Mr. Pita was not eligible to run in the general election on May 14. Photo: AFP
In its submission, the Election Commission also asked the Constitutional Court to rule that Pita be disqualified from the House of Representatives because he still held shares in the media company iTV when he registered to run for the House of Representatives. Move Forward Party Chairman Pita will have 15 days to submit his rebuttal to the Constitutional Court before the body considers and makes a final decision.
Although he was suspended from the House of Representatives, this did not affect Mr. Pita's nomination as a candidate for Prime Minister because the Thai Constitution does not stipulate that the Prime Minister must be a member of the National Assembly . However, on July 13, the Thai Parliament voted to elect a new Prime Minister with Mr. Pita as the only candidate, but he did not receive the minimum number of votes, as the majority of pro-military senators did not vote for him. In a related development, Mr. Pita announced last weekend that he would withdraw from the race for the Prime Minister's seat if he failed in the second round of elections.
In case the Move Forward party leader fails to become Prime Minister after many rounds of voting, Pheu Thai, the second largest party in the eight-party coalition, is expected to nominate its representative as a candidate.
The above developments show that the race for the Thai Prime Minister position is heating up again. Accordingly, the new candidates for the Thai Prime Minister position are expected to include the following prominent figures:
First is 60-year-old real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin, a member of the Pheu Thai Party, who has suddenly become famous as a new face in Thai politics, who attracted young voters during the May election campaign. Under the Pheu Thai Party banner, he could win 151 votes in the National Assembly and according to political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Srettha would be the “bright man” if Mr. Pita is eliminated.
The second is the Shinawatra “princess” Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, a young face of the Pheu Thai Party, who was considered a “marginal candidate” before the general election, but has proven her ability to draw crowds and build a support base based on her family’s legacy. She is the third child of exiled Prime Minister Thaksin and is known as the “princess” of the Shinawatra family. Paetongtarn has announced her willingness to run for prime minister and has received much support from Shinawatra loyalists. However, political analyst Thitinan notes that Paetongtarn recently gave birth and her bid could face opposition from Thai senators who are unsympathetic to her father.
The third figure is Prawit Wongsuwan, 77, known as a quiet behind-the-scenes political operator. In the recent general election, his Palang Pracharath Party disappointed with only 40 seats, but Prawit received crucial support from the Thai military.
Prawit served as army chief from 2004 to 2005 and has played a key role behind the scenes in Thai politics ever since. He was appointed to the Legislative Council after the 2006 coup and became defense minister two years later. Prawit remained a key figure in the 2014 coup, becoming deputy to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and serving as acting prime minister when Prayuth was briefly suspended by the Constitutional Court while a complaint about his tenure was heard.
The people who are said to be in the race for the Thai Prime Minister's seat all have their own strengths and are likely to win. However, Thai politics currently has many parties, so they will strongly influence the votes in both houses. This factor will make the race more exciting and difficult to predict the outcome.
HN synthesis
Source link
Comment (0)