Former Thai deputy prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul appeared poised to lead the next government in Thailand, with the conservative politician promising to call elections within months to end political uncertainty caused by the sacking of former Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Anutin, whose father briefly served as Thailand’s caretaker leader in 2008, said late on Friday that he had support of enough lawmakers to become prime minister. Much would depend on the main opposition People’s Party — the largest bloc in the 500-member House of Representatives — which has yet to declare its stance, although it has made clear that any support would be conditional.
Anutin was a deputy prime minister in Paetongtarn’s government until his Bhumjaithai Party exited the coalition following the controversy over her leaked phone call with former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, which eventually led to her sacking by the Constitutional Court. His party is also known for championing the liberalization of cannabis in Thailand.
Photo: REUTERS
Anutin said an “interim government” under him would dissolve the parliament in four months, hold a referendum on amending the constitution and take steps to resolve the Thai-Cambodia border dispute as demanded by the People’s Party.
“We cannot allow Thailand to come to a standstill,” Anutin told reporters. “After we’ve completed the missions, we will return power to the people within four months by dissolving the house, so the country can be reset once again.”
A fracture within the current coalition headed by Pheu Thai, the political party backed by the Shinawatra clan, might also help Anutin’s bid for power. While the group said it would attempt to form a government and reached out to the People’s Party for support, Anutin claimed to have the support of about 47 lawmakers who previously supported Paetongtarn’s administration.
The People’s Party has said it would not join a new government, but was open to supporting a new leader who would be willing to meet its demands. With its 143 lawmakers, the group is emerging as a key player in the formation of the new government. The party has no prime ministerial candidate after the Constitutional Court dissolved its earlier incarnation — the Move Forward Party — and banned its executives, including leader Pita Limjaroenrat, from politics for 10 years.
A parliamentary vote to select a new premier is likely to be held between Wednesday and Friday. Under the Thai constitution, a prime ministerial candidate needs the support of the majority of the sitting members in the elected lower house.
Even if Anutin ascends to power, his administration is unlikely to have a strong parliamentary mandate, potentially leading to a policy paralysis at a time when Thailand’s economic outlook is worsened by the blow from US tariffs and the region’s highest household debt levels.
Paetongtarn, like her immediate predecessor former Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin, lasted just about a year in office before being booted out. The judges said her remarks on a phone call with Cambodia’s Hun Sen over a border dispute undermined national interests and the dignity of the premiership.
The court, set up in 1997, has now ejected five sitting Thai prime ministers linked to Paetongtarn’s father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, including his sister and brother-in-law.
The sackings highlight how the country’s conservative establishment — identified by analysts as an amalgamation of bureaucrats, the military and business elites — can thwart elected governments, disband political parties and engineer long stretches of military-backed rule.
“The court’s removal of Paetongtarn affirms a troubling precedent of unelected judges overruling the mandate of millions,” said Napon Jatusripitak, acting coordinator of the Thailand Studies Program at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. “With no clear successor, Thailand risks deadlock and a leadership vacuum just as it faces economic turbulence from a US trade deal and renewed border tensions with Cambodia.”
Paetongtarn’s ouster throws into doubt a compromise her father reached with his rivals that kept his hands on the levers of power.
The deal had helped him return to Thailand after 15 years in self-imposed exile and paved the way for Pheu Thai to form a government with conservative groups that were opposed to him previously.
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