Anutin rejects talk that Bhumjaithai will only be granted social affairs ministries
Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul said his party will discuss Cabinet seat quotas with the prospective coalition leader Pheu Thai Party no later than Wednesday.
He said on Tuesday that details of the Cabinet quotas should be clear before the next round of PM voting.
After dropping its coalition agreement with election winner Move Forward Party, the second winner Pheu Thai invited Bhumjaithai, which has the third highest vote count, to join its new coalition with several other smaller parties.
Anutin said his party has been discussing the quotas with Pheu Thai, but the discussion has not gone into details yet.
“We should discuss it in detail today or tomorrow,” he added.
He said Bhumjaithai, which won 71 MP seats, has been told how many Cabinet posts it will receive, but the two sides have not yet spoken about which ministries Bhumjaithai will be given.
Anutin, however, declined to speculate on which ministries his party would be given, saying it would depend on a formal discussion and he does not want to step up pressure on the coalition now.
He also dismissed rumours that his party will only be given social affairs ministries, and no Cabinet seats related to economic affairs.
“Who said that? We have not yet discussed it,” Anutin said.
Asked if Bhumjaithai would accept it if Pheu Thai allocated Cabinet seats based on the ratio of one seat for every nine MPs each partner has, Anutin replied: “It will depend on how many parties will be brought into the coalition. Bhumjaithai cannot interfere in this decision.”
On the possible date of the PM vote, Anutin said he expected it to be held next week, based on the Constitutional Court’s decision on a petition filed by the ombudsmen.
The court is scheduled to decide on Wednesday whether it will accept the petition in which the ombudsmen asked the court to invalidate a parliamentary resolution that blocked the renomination of Move Forward PM candidate Pita Limjaroenrat.
