Acting Thai premier moves to dissolve parliament
Thailand’s acting prime minister initiated the process to dissolve parliament on Wednesday, according to his party.
The move comes after the country's largest opposition party announced its support for a rival candidate to become the next prime minister, signaling a significant shift in the political landscape, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
The decision -- a potentially legally fraught one -- could see the kingdom hold fresh elections before the year's end, just two years after it last went to the polls in May 2023.
A power vacuum has consumed Thailand's top office since Friday, when prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was ousted by the Constitutional Court over an ethics breach.
Her Pheu Thai party -- still governing in a caretaker capacity -- had courted the power-broking opposition People's Party to back its new candidate for prime minister.
But the People's Party instead declared its support for conservative tycoon Anutin Charnvirakul.
Moments later, Pheu Thai secretary general Sorawong Thienthong told AFP that acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai "has submitted a house dissolution decree".
Whether a caretaker government has the power to dissolve parliament is a hotly debated question.
But according to the Thai constitution, if the king approves the dissolution of parliament, an election must take place between 45 and 60 days later.
"It's likely an election will happen in the next few months," Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist from Ubon Ratchathani University, told AFP.
"An election might be the best solution for the country, because now it's almost impossible to form a normal government."
The People's Party also said its backing of Anutin was conditional on dissolution of the house within four months -- meaning his elevation to office would likely lead to fresh polls, albeit on a later timescale.
"It's always the same power struggles, while our lives remain unchanged," complained 23-year-old Bangkok hairdresser Kanjana Sangkasupan.
"As a member of the young generation, I want a new kind of politics."
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