THE parliament will hold a session on Thursday to vote on a new prime minister, House Speaker Sophon Zaram said, following last month’s general election.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is seeking to be voted back to office by the new parliament after his Bhumjaithai Party won a clear victory in the Feb 8 election.
Anutin, who is Bhumjaithai Party leader, said on Sunday that the parliamentary vote to select Thailand’s next prime minister should not be delayed after Bhumjaithai’s Sophon won the House Speaker post, but added that no exact timeframe could yet be fixed because the process must first go through formal documentation and royal endorsement.
Sophon, the Bhumjaithai MP for Buri Ram, was elected Speaker by 289 votes to 123, with 80 abstentions and five spoiled ballots.
Anutin said the pace of the prime ministerial vote would depend on how quickly paperwork for the new Speaker could be submitted for royal endorsement.
Once the endorsement is issued and the Speaker formally acknowledges the royal command, the House of Representatives can then be convened to elect the prime minister.
He said the next step was unlikely to take long, but stressed that it would be wrong to fix a date in advance because every appointment must first receive royal endorsement.
Asked about Cabinet preparations, Anutin said discussions on ministerial quotas with coalition partners would take place only after the prime minister had been elected.
He said coalition parties would submit their nominees after the premiership had been royally endorsed, and those names would then be sent to the Secretariat of the Prime Minister for vetting.
He insisted the process was moving normally and that there had been no delay so far.
Anutin also signalled strict screening of prospective ministers, particularly on ethics and qualifications.
He said parties were expected to filter names carefully in line with Constitutional Court guidelines, and added that if any nominee raised genuine concerns, he could still discuss possible changes with the relevant party leader.
He also said the public’s expectations could not be ignored and Cabinet appointments must follow clear ethical standards.
The Speaker vote marked another key stage in the formation of the next government after the new parliament was formally opened over the weekend.
Reuters has reported that Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party has assembled a coalition bloc of over 290 seats, strengthening expectations that he will secure parliamentary backing once the House moves to the prime ministerial vote. — Reuters/The Nation/ANN
