Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul is surrounded by media representatives at the party's headquarters in Bangkok on Monday, September 1, 2025. -- Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand's largest opposition party failed on Monday to decide who to back as the nation's next prime minister at a kingmaking summit, 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.
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 stronghold of 143 parliamentary seats.
But People's Party spokesman Parit Wacharasindhu told reporters a summit to weigh their options on Monday ended with no decision, and would resume on Tuesday.
"Members expressed comments with concerns both ways," he said.
The People's Party says its backing will be conditional on parliament being dissolved for fresh elections within four months, paving the way for yet more political upheaval in the kingdom.
Paetongtarn -- heiress to the Shinawatra dynasty which has dominated Thai politics for two decades -- had only been in office since last August, after her predecessor was likewise dismissed by court order.
Under Thailand's constitution, only candidates nominated for prime minister at the time of the last general election in 2023 are eligible -- leaving a dwindling list of names for the top office.
Pheu Thai have only one possible candidate left -- 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 the summit.
"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.
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. - AFP
