Mr. Pita Limjaroenrat was not re-nominated as Prime Minister of Thailand.

Thailand's Prime Ministerial candidate of the Progressive Party (MFP) Pita Limjaroenrat (front) complies with the Constitutional Court's ruling, suspending her status as a member of the National Assembly , in Bangkok, July 17, 2023. Photo: AFP/VNA

The vote followed more than eight hours of heated debate over whether Pita’s renomination was against House rules. His opponents insisted that his renomination was a repeat of the same motion that was submitted and rejected by Congress on July 13.

Parliamentary rules do not allow a motion that has been rejected to be re-submitted in the same parliamentary session. However, Pita’s supporters argue that the re-nomination is not a “motion” per se, but rather part of the process of nominating a prime minister .

After a day of debate, National Assembly Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha decided to vote on the issue. Of the 715 members of both houses who participated in the vote, 394 approved the cancellation of Pita's nomination, 312 did not support it, 8 abstained, and 1 did not vote. After the results were approved, National Assembly Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha officially announced the cancellation of Pita's nomination for Prime Minister.

Earlier on the same day, the Thai Constitutional Court also decided to temporarily suspend Mr. Pita's status as a member of parliament in connection with the accusation that Mr. Pita owned 42,000 shares of a media company when registering to run for election, violating the Constitution. The Court's decision led to Mr. Pita having to leave the National Assembly meeting room and losing his voting rights afterwards. The Court gave Mr. Pita 15 days to explain the accusation before making a final decision.

Some sources have not said that the Thai Parliament will convene another plenary session to elect a prime minister on July 26. It is likely that candidate Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai Party, the second-most-voted party in the May general election, will be nominated.

Source: VNA

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