Court suspends Prayut from duty pending ruling on tenure on Wednesday, Aug 24,2022
The majority of Constitutional Court judges on Wednesday voted to accept an opposition petition for deliberation on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s tenure and suspended him from duty until a ruling is made.
The judges voted 5:4 to accept the petition, which was forwarded to the court by the Secretariat of the House of Representatives.
Opposition MPs invoked Section 82 to sign their names sponsoring the petition, asking the court whether Prayut’s tenure should be deemed expired in accordance with provisions of the Constitution that limited the tenure of a prime minister to eight years. They insist his tenure ended on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
The petition also asked the court to suspend Prayut from duty until a ruling is made.
The current nine Constitutional Court judges are court president Worawit Kangsasitiam, Dr Jiraniti Hawanon, Udom Sitthiwirattham, Wiroon Saengthian, Banjongsak Wongprat, Thaweekiart Minakasit, Nakarin Mektrairat, Panya Udchachon, and Noppadon Theppithak.
Earlier, the Pheu Thai Party said Prayut was now facing “the political trap of the charter that he designed to block the Pheu Thai from winning executive power”.
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said that even if Prayut was suspended as the prime minister, he could still continue working as the defence minister.
Wissanu had said Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan would be caretaker prime minister in case Prayut was suspended from duty.
