BANGKOK (AP) — Thai lawmakers met on Friday to elect a new prime minister, with major political parties making competing promises to quickly dissolve the parliament and call for elections as a way to resolve the country’s political crisis.
Candidates appointed in the last general election in 2023 are eligible under Thai constitutional rules. Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai party, seemed the most likely candidate to secure a job.
Constitutional Court last week Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been rejected a Call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen On tensions over competing claims along the border.
The conflict has erupted fatally Five Days of Armed Conflict in July.
Chaikasem nitisiri, the candidate of the Anutin and Pheu Thai party, has been officially appointed to the vote. They need at least 247 votes to win the majority of the home.
Pheu Thai, who now heads the caretaker government, tried to dissolve the parliament on Tuesday, but the acting prime minister said their demands had been rejected by the Privy Council of the King.
Former Attorney General and Justice Minister Chaikhasem said Thursday that if he is elected, the house will be dissolved as soon as he delivers his first speech to Congress.
Anutin said he had won 146 votes from his party and its allies, but the People’s Party said 143 MPs supported him, easily surpassing the majority of 247 of the 492 MPs currently serving.
Anutin, 58, worked for the Pheu Thai-led coalition government that came to power in 2023. Prayuth chan-ocha.
Anutin is best known for successfully lobbying for the decriminalization of cannabis. Strictly regulated for medical purposes. He also played a well-known role as health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic when he was accused of being late in getting a proper vaccine supply to fight the virus.
If Anutin succeeds, his party has pledged to dissolve the Parliament within four months in exchange for support from the People’s Party. The party’s leader, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, said it could remain on the contrary and the new government could become a minority.
The People’s Party also said that the Anuchin-led government must be committed to organizing a referendum on the drafting of a new constitution by the elected Constitutional Assembly. The party has long sought changes to the constitution imposed during military governments to make it more democratic.
The People’s Party was later named Progressive Party and won the most seats in the 2023 election, but was restricted from power when the House co-voting and the Senate failed to approve the prime minister’s candidate.
The senator, appointed by the military government and a strong supporter of the conservative establishment of the Thai royal family, voted against the Progressive Party for opposing policies that called for reform of the monarchy.
The Senate no longer reserves the right to participate in the vote for the Prime Minister.
After moving forward, Pheu Thai had one of the candidates, a real estate executive Srettha Thavisinwas approved as Prime Minister Union Government. However, he served just a year before the Constitutional Court rejected him from the office for an ethical violation.
Alternative Paetongtarn for Srettha, Previously Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra My daughter has also been appointed. But even before she was kicked out, her government was greatly weakened when the Nutine Bumjaita party abandoned her coalition shortly after a controversial call with Cambodia’s Hun Sen in June.
That withdrawal left a coalition of Pheu Thai, with a mere small and unstable majority in Parliament.
