Thai opposition holds kingmaking summit deciding new PM
BANGKOK: Thailand’s largest opposition party was set to hold a kingmaking summit Monday to decide who to back as the nation’s next prime minister, after the incumbent was ousted by court order.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra was on Friday sacked as prime minister by Thailand’s Constitutional Court after it found she had breached ethical standards during a border row with Cambodia.
The ruling has left Thailand with only an acting prime minister and a caretaker cabinet as minority factions jostle to secure backing to form a new government as soon as Wednesday.
Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai Party and the conservative Bhumjaithai Party – which abandoned her coalition over the border row – are both now courting the People’s Party’s crucial 143 parliamentary seats.
But the People’s Party has said its backing will be conditional on parliament being dissolved for fresh elections within four months, paving the way for yet more political turmoil.
Under Thailand’s constitution, only candidates nominated for prime minister at the time of the last general election in 2023 are eligible.
Pheu Thai have only one possible candidate left in their list of nominees – former state prosecutor Chaikasem Nitisiri – while Bhumjaithai are putting forward their leader Anutin Charnvirakul.
“We will not be voting for the best prime minister to serve the people,” People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said ahead of his party meeting due Monday lunchtime.
“We are voting for a prime minister who will dissolve the house,” he said, pledging his members would not serve in any new cabinet they give their backing to.
It is possible the party’s deliberations may take longer than a day, Natthaphong said. “There are different points of opinion in our party,” he added.
The People’s Party succeeded the Move Forward party which won the most seats in Thailand’s 2023 election after campaigning to reduce military influence and reform Thailand’s tough lese majeste laws.
The bid to relax the royal defamation laws resulted in Move Forward being dissolved by court order, but any new election could see the People’s Party resurrect the campaign.
