Thailand's Bhumjaithai party leader Anutin Charnvirakul says he has enough support to become PM
Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul reacts after a press conference at the parliament house in Bangkok, Thailand, on Aug 15, 2024. (File photo: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa)
BANGKOK: The leader of Thailand's Bhumjaithai party Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday (Sep 3) he has the support of 146 lawmakers from seven groups and parties in his bid to become prime minister.
Anutin told reporters he was committed to the conditions laid out by the People's Party, the biggest party in parliament, including house dissolution.
Thailand's largest opposition party earlier gave tycoon Anutin its crucial backing to serve as the nation's next prime minister, after the incumbent was ousted by court order.
The People's Party "agreed to support" the conservative candidate, party head Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut told reporters.
But he said their support was conditional on parliament being dissolved for fresh elections within four months, "so that power can be returned to the people as soon as possible".
Heir to a construction engineering fortune, Anutin previously served as deputy prime minister, interior minister and health minister - in 2022 delivering on a promise to legalise cannabis.
Charged with the tourist-dependent kingdom's COVID-19 response, he accused Westerners of spreading the virus and was forced to apologise after a backlash.
His Bhumjaithai Party was a key coalition backer of former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, abandoning their government pact recently over her conduct during a border row with Cambodia.
That same dispute saw Paetongtarn sacked by the Constitutional Court on Friday, after it found she had breached ministerial ethics in the spat.
It was a heavy blow to Pheu Thai - the current electoral vehicle of the Shinawatra dynasty, which has for two decades jousted with the kingdom's pro-military, pro-monarchy elite.
Pheu Thai had also been courting the People's Party's support for their own candidate to return to the prime minister's office.
Only candidates nominated as potential premiers in the 2023 election are eligible for the office, and a streak of turmoil has seen the number of potential leaders whittled down to just five.
The power-broking People's Party succeeded the Move Forward party, which won the most seats in the 2023 polls 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.
Moments after the Bhumjaithai Party received opposition backing, the ruling Pheu Thai Party said it had sought royal approval to dissolve the parliament for a new election.
