Thailand’s Parliament will vote for a new prime minister on July 13, House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on Wednesday. The declaration happens a day after Mr Wan Noor was as House Speaker, a role in which he has to make a call for a joint sitting of the nation’s bicameral legislature to vote on the next prime minister. The election-winning Move Forward Party and populist Pheu Thai thrashed conservative enemies in a May ballot, saving 151 and 141 seats in the 500-member Lower House, properly.
Together with six other parties they are tentatively going to propose Move Forward leader, the United States-educated Pita Limjaroenrat as the next premier to replace the incumbent Prayut Chan-o-cha. However, with 312 votes the alliance is short of the 376 votes that Mr Pita requires in the joint sitting, which involves a conservative-leaning 250-member Senate, who were given a chance to serve during military rule. Mr Pita’s bid to be prime minister also comes across another challenge outside Parliament. Thailand’s election commission set up an investigation in June to examine whether Mr Pita was eligible to run for office because of allegations he owned shares in a now-defunct media company. Legislators are not allowed to own media shares.