BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s main opposition party on Tuesday said it will try to oust Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as early as this month, insisting that his years as junta chief after a 2014 coup count toward a constitutional eight-year limit on his time in office.
Prayuth must call an election within the next 10 months, but the Pheu Thai Party believes his term should end on Aug. 23 and will ask the constitutional court to rule on how long he can stay in office, the party’s legal expert, Chusak Sirinin told Reuters.
The challenge will be the latest hurdle for the royalist general who in the past two years has survived four no-confidence votes in parliament, and months of heated, youth-led protests against his leadership and the monarchy.
Prayuth, 68, was junta leader and prime minister from 2014 until 2019, when a new parliament chose him to remain prime minister following an election held under a military-drafted constitution.
The opposition says Prayuth’s tenure as prime minister began in August 2014, a few months after the coup, and should therefore end this month.
But opinion is divided. Some supporters argue his premiership started in 2017 when a new constitution came into force, or after the 2019 election – meaning he should be allowed to stay in power until 2025 or 2027, if elected.
The issue underscores the turmoil that has dogged Thai politics for nearly two decades, resulting from military intervention, constitutional rewrites and contentious court rulings.
Prayuth has yet to comment publicly on the debate over how long he could remain in power and sidestepped recent questions on the issue.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has said the government would wait for the constitutional court to request its view on the matter.
If the court rules that Prayuth’s term ends this month, his cabinet would serve as a caretaker until parliament chooses a new prime minister.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
