Prime Minister Prayut announces his retirement from active politics

In his Facebook post, Prayut said: “I would want to express my gratitude to the people who supported the United Thai Nation Party and me in the previous election.”

Prayut’s party finished fifth overall, winning 36 seats – 23 constituency MPs and 13 party-list MPs — and securing over 4.7 million votes in the May 14 general election.

Prayut said that he had decided to join the party because he wanted to create a high-quality party that had immense respect for the nation, religion and monarchy.

He urged all other UTNP members to stick to the core ideology of protecting the nation, religion, and monarch and to strive for the benefit of the people despite his absence from the party.

He said that throughout his nine years in office, he had paid close attention to inputs from all his supporters and other party members and did his best to advance the interests of the nation.

Prayut said that his efforts had made Thailand stronger in assorted areas, including transportation, communications, the internet, public utilities, foreign investment in many sectors, and research and development.

He also mentioned his achievement of leading the country in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming that Thailand's response to the pandemic was so effective that it became one of the best countries in dealing with emerging diseases.

“These are the things I have accomplished for the country and the people during the past nine years as prime minister. I truly hope that the next government would continue to do so,” he said.

Prayut seized power in a military coup in 2014 and served as the prime minister until 2023. He was fielded as prime minister candidate by the UTNP in the May 14 election but the party failed to make a big impact.

Also on Tuesday, Sudarat Keyuraphan, the head of the Thai Sang Thai Party, a member of the coalition led by Move Forward that is expected to form the next government, resigned as party-list MP.