Opposition to ask for court ruling on Prayut’s term limit in mid-August
The opposition will seek a Constitutional Court ruling around the middle of this month on whether Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha can legally remain in office after August 24.
Cholnan Srikaew, the Pheu Thai Party leader who heads the opposition, said on Friday that opposition parties have agreed to take their case to the court about a week before PM Prayut reaches eight years in office.
“It will be August 16 or 17, which we see as the best time to submit our petition. If it’s later than that, the country will be damaged,” Cholnan said.
He said the opposition parties had resolved earlier to seek the ruling but were waiting until “the most appropriate time” to submit their petition.
Opposition politicians are calling on Gen Prayut to step down by August 24, as the Constitution sets an eight-year time limit for his tenure.
Article 158 of the Constitution, in force since April 2017, states: “The prime minister shall not hold office for more than eight years in total, whether or not consecutively.”
Previous Thai charters carried no limit for the PM’s term in office.
However, lawmakers and legal experts disagree on the start date of Prayut’s tenure.
Some say it should be when Gen Prayut first assumed the premiership on August 24, 2014 – following the military coup he led in May that year.
Others say his tenure began when the current charter came into force on April 6, 2017. A third group views that it should be counted from when Prayut assumed the premiership on June 9, 2019, following the general election in March that year.