How Thailand’s 30th prime minister will be elected
All eyes will be on Parliament tomorrow when lawmakers vote to elect Thailand’s 30th prime minister. Here, The Nation outlines the processes necessary for the ballot.
Who will elect PM?
The 250 senators and 500 Members of House of Representatives
Who can be nominated?
According to the current Constitution, only candidates from political party with at least 25 MPs can be nominated.
Nine candidates from six parties eligible to be nominated: one candidate each from Move Forward, Democrats, Bhumjaithai, Palang Pracharath and Two candidates from United Thai Nation, and Three candidates from Pheu Thai.
However, the United Thai Nation Party and Palang Pracharath Party have recently stated that they will not nominate any candidates for the position of prime minister.
Election steps
- MPs nominate PM candidates
- Each nominee must be endorsed by at least one tenth of all MPs
- More than one candidate can be nominated
- MPs and senators must vote by roll-call based on alphabetical order of their names
- Candidate must earn at least 376 votes to be elected PM
- If no candidate receives at least 376 votes, another round of voting will be held
- Joint sitting of House and Senate is scheduled on July 13 to elect PM
- If no one is elected, another round of voting may be held on July 19.
Earlier, Deputy House speaker Pichet Chuamuangphan predicts that it will need up to three rounds of voting.
However, The Constitution does not restrict the number of times a PM candidate can be put forward for a vote.
