According to the present constitution, the 250 senators chosen by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which is no longer in existence, are permitted to vote alongside MPs to choose a prime minister in Parliament.They will take part in the lower house’s nomination of the prime minister for the second and perhaps final time this time.
Senators and MPs both supported General Prayut Chan-o-cha for prime minister in the 2019 elections.With the addition of one new party and five former opposition parties, the Move Forward Party (MFP) currently has 310 MPs in total. Pita Limjaroenrat, leader and lone candidate for prime minister for Move Forward, will need to amass as many as 375 MPs, or half of the total Parliament (750), in order to successfully bypass the 250-member Senate.In response to Move Forward’s drive to change the contentious lese majeste law, Senator Kittisak Rattanawaraha said, “A prime minister must show loyalty to the royal institution.” This suggested that he might not vote for Pita or abstain from voting when it comes time to choose a premier in his capacity as a senator.
Pornthip Rojanasunan and a few other senators made it plain that they will abstain from voting, citing their reservations with the MFP’s plan to change the lese majeste statute. She argued that the MFP shouldn’t become involved in such delicate and divisive matters.Many experts said that with 310 votes in hand, the MFP should ask the Bhumjai Thai Party, which supports marijuana legalization and finished third in the election, for help. With around 70 MPs, Bhumjaithai could give MFP the majority without requiring Senate consent. The party leader, Anutin Charnvirakul, stated he would wait for the official election results within sixty days before making any decisions, therefore as of the time of publication, there had been no conversations between the two sides.
The two parties also have considerable disagreements, with MFP officially claiming that they were against marijuana and wanted it reclassified as a narcotic, only being used for strictly medical purposes. Bhumjaithai is unlikely to approve Lese Majeste reforms.
Whatever the result, the countdown to a new era has started.
Thailand will now proceed through the next five steps:
Election Commission must release the official general election results no later than July 13th.
July
The House of Representatives will choose a new speaker in the wake of the results.
A new premier will be chosen by Parliament in August.
final August
The caretaker administration is replaced by a new cabinet once it leaves office.
His Royal Majesty the King would also need to formally approve the new PM, but this is generally just a formality.
