Selv hevder Prayut at han startet som statsminister i 2017, og vil ikke regne med tiden som han regjerte som militært innsatt statsminister etter juntaen gjennomførte statskupp i 2014.
WHEN IS HIS 8 YEARS UP?
Chuan Leekpai, President of Thailand’s National Assembly and House Speaker, has submitted the opposition parties’ petition to the Constitutional Court on 22nd August to seek a ruling on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s 8-year term in the office, claimed by the Opposition and some academics to come to an end on August 24th this year.
In the petition, the Constitutional Court is also asked to order the prime minister to cease his work and duties as prime minister. The petition is based on Article 158 of the constitution, drafted by a military-appointed council in 2017, which states the prime minister “shall not hold office for more than eight years in total, whether or not holding consecutive term.”
Prayuth’s critics and opposition parties argue that his term started on August 24th, about three months after the coup, when the king officially endorsed him as PM following a vote by a legislature dominated by junta-picked lawmakers.
Some of Prayuth’s defenders, on the other hand, say his tenure started on April 6, 2017, when the current constitution was ratified, saying that it was not retroactive. Others, meanwhile, claim his start date should be July 10, 2019, when the parliament elected him prime minister.
