Thailand’s parliament will vote on July 13 to elect a prime minister after pro-democracy party Move Forward won May’s elections to everyone’s surprise, the Speaker of the House of Commons announced on Wednesday.
The leader of this party, Pita Limjaroenrat, is a candidate for the post, backed by a coalition of eight reformist parties, which controls the majority of the 500 MPs.
But to become head of government, Mr Pita must also gain the backing of the Senate, whose 250 members are appointed by the army.
“After discussions with the President of the Senate, we have concluded that the vote should take place on Thursday, July 13 at 9:30 a.m.,” said Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, the new President of the Assembly, who is from the Voting of May 14 emerged from the press. .
If Mr Pita is not elected in the first ballot, there will be more ballots “until we have a prime minister,” Wan added.
“Should the number of votes not reach 376, we will proceed with further voting.”
Other parties can nominate their candidates, as proposed by the UTN party, which is chaired by incumbent Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-O-Cha.
Gen Prayut, who came to power in a coup in 2014, attempted to seek re-election under that party’s banner, and political analysts say it would be technically possible for him to remain in power as part of a minority government with party support of the Senate.
Move Forward formed an eight-party coalition with 312 seats, which includes Pheu Thai, which came second in the elections. But he is still a long way from getting the 376 votes needed in the two chambers of parliament to elect Mr Pita as the country’s leader.
Several senators have already announced they would not vote for Mr Pita, but he and his party still say they are confident they can get the job.
Another thorny issue awaits Mr Pita: the investigation launched against him by the electoral commission to determine whether he was actually eligible to run for office because he owned shares in a now-defunct media company, which the electoral law prohibits.