World News | Thailand’s PM, who seized power in 2014 coup, quits politics after election defeat

BANGKOK, July 12 (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Tuesday that he is retiring from politics. He has been in office for nearly nine years after seizing power in a 2014 military coup.

His announcement came after his party, which is this year’s candidate for prime minister, finished fifth in May’s general election, picking up just 36 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.

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Prayuth, 69, a former army chief, made the announcement on the Ruam Thai Sang Chart (United Thailand Party) Facebook page. He is their nominee to be prime minister again.

“I would like to announce my retirement from politics by resigning as a member of the Kingdom of Thailand,” Prayuth wrote. “I would like to ask the party leaders, executives and members to continue to carry out the campaign with a strong ideology that protects the institution, the country, the religion and the monarchy. Political activities, and looking after the Thai people.”

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Parliament will elect a new prime minister on Thursday. Nominees from the leading, progressive Progressive Party must win a majority of at least 376 votes in the combined House and unelected lawmakers, where the party forms an eight-party majority coalition with 312 seats in the House. The Senate has 250 members. The approval of party leader Pita Limjaroenrat is uncertain due to political differences with the conservative Senate.

After serving as prime minister in an unelected junta that came to power in a 2014 coup, Prayut returned to work after elections in 2019 as a candidate for the army-backed People’s Power Party. The prime minister is not required to be an MP, and Prayuth did not run in the 2019 or this year’s elections.

If Prayuth is re-elected this year, he will only be able to serve another two years under constitutional term limits. He is already one of Thailand’s longest-serving prime ministers.

Prayut did not specify the reasons for his retirement from politics, but listed what he believed to be his achievements during his tenure, saying: “Over the past nine years, as Prime Minister, I have worked with all my determination and strength to protect the country, religion and the monarchy. , and in the best interest of loved ones.” (Associated Press)

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