Thailand’s acting prime minister yesterday moved to dissolve parliament, his party said, after the largest opposition group backed a rival candidate to lead the country.
The decision could see the kingdom hold fresh elections before the year’s end, just two years after it last went to the polls in May 2023.
A power vacuum has consumed Thailand’s top office since Friday last week, when Paetongtarn Shinawatra was ousted as prime minister by the Thai Constitutional Court over an ethics breach.
Photo: EPA
Her Pheu Thai party — still governing in a caretaker capacity — had courted the power-broking opposition People’s Party to back its new candidate for prime minister.
However, the People’s Party instead declared its support for tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul.
Moments later, Pheu Thai secretary-general Sorawong Thienthong told reporters that Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai “has submitted a house dissolution decree.”
Whether a caretaker government has the power to dissolve parliament is a hotly debated question, but if the king approves the dissolution, an election must take place between 45 and 60 days later.
“It’s likely an election will happen in the next few months,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist from Ubon Ratchathani University. “An election might be the best solution for the country, because now it’s almost impossible to form a normal government.”
The People’s Party also said that its backing of Anutin was conditional on house dissolution within four months — meaning his elevation to office would likely lead to fresh polls, albeit on a later timescale.
“It’s always the same power struggles, while our lives remain unchanged,” 23-year-old Bangkok hairdresser Kanjana Sangkasupan said. “As a member of the young generation, I want a new kind of politics.”
The People’s Party pledged its 143-strong parliamentary bloc to Anutin, heir to a construction engineering fortune, who told reporters it was “the duty of MPs” to vote him into office.
“Forming a government is essential, and we understand the party is seeking a way to resolve the crises,” he said.
The People’s Party said they would vote him in as soon as tomorrow.
Meanwhile, one of Anutin’s lieutenants said he entered a criminal complaint against Phumtham, accusing him of abuse of power for bidding to dissolve parliament.
It was unclear whether that complaint would result in charges.
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