Thai PM under pressure as debate rages over his term limit

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is facing mounting pressure to step down as political opponents and activists argue that he has completed a maximum of eight years in office on Tuesday.

The former coup leader-turned-prime minister is being targeted by opposition parties, who say he will breach the constitution’s eight-year limit if he stays in office even a day longer. They have sought a ruling from the constitutional court on whether Prayuth can stay beyond August 23 or to suspend him until there is a verdict.

Prayuth’s latest challenge is based on a debate over whether his years as junta leader should be counted in. He was named prime minister of a military government on August 24, 2014 following the May coup and reappointed to lead the civilian administration after a military-backed party formed a coalition to win the elections in 2019.

But some of Prayuth’s supporters have contested this view, saying the law must not be used retroactively and Prayuth’s term should be counted only from when the military-backed constitution became effective in 2017. Others have said his start date should be from when he became a civilian prime minister in 2019.

All eyes are on the constitutional court this week to decide the fate of Prayuth, who survived a vote of no confidence last month and is expected to call the next elections by late March. There is no set time-frame for when the constitutional court would dismiss or accept the opposition’s petition for deliberation.

Prayuth has given no indication of an imminent resignation and the government only said it was up to the court.