BANGKOK, July 5 — Thailand's Parliament will vote for a new prime minister on July 13, house speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said on Wednesday.
The announcement comes a day after Wan Noor was endorsed as House Speaker, a role in which he is able to call for a joint sitting of the country's bicameral legislature to vote on the next prime minister.
The election-winning Move Forward party and populist Pheu Thai trounced conservative rivals in a May ballot, securing 151 and 141 seats in the 500-member lower house, respectively.
Together with six other parties, they are expected to propose Move Forward leader, the United States-educated Pita Limjaroenrat as the next premier, to replace the incumbent Prayuth Chan-ocha.
However, with 312 votes the alliance is short of the 376 votes that Pita needs in the joint sitting, which includes a conservative-leaning 250-member senate, who were appointed during military rule.
— Reuters
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Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat (centre) leaves after voting for the House Speaker, at the Parliament in Bangkok, Thailand, on July 4, 2023. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
