Coalition partners want assurances
PUBLISHED : 15 Aug 2023 at 05:00
The Pheu Thai Party has shrugged off demands from its prospective coalition partners for cabinet seats to be allocated before they proceed to vote on the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai said there must be clarity on how the coalition will vote on the prime ministerial candidate first. Only then will cabinet seat allocation be discussed.
He insisted cabinet seats will have to be acceptable to society and reflect the policies of each coalition party.
“We ask that the parties recognise the country’s and people’s needs as the first priority,” he said.
Mr Phumtham’s statement followed a reported ultimatum issued by a number of its coalition members to settle the cabinet allocation ahead of the vote.
The parties also snubbed Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin’s suggestion that parties joining the Pheu Thai-led administration not return to oversee the ministries they are occupying in the current caretaker government.
So far, the Bhumjaithai and Chartthaipattana parties from the current caretaker government have agreed to take part in a Pheu Thai-led administration. Other major parties reportedly mulling whether to join the new coalition are the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party.
These parties from the caretaker government have insisted that if they get to keep the ministries they currently supervise, it would benefit work continuity.
They added Pheu Thai should not focus on amending the constitution, but instead take care of the economic problems and people’s livelihoods first.
Mr Phumtham said he has not heard of a reported demand by any prospective coalition parties pressing for Mr Srettha to be replaced as prime ministerial candidate by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, head of the so-called Pheu Thai Family.
As far as he was aware, the parties had not paid serious attention to the issue, Mr Phumtham said.
“It must be made clear how many parties are ready to be in the government and how the cabinet seats are to be divided up,” he said, affirming the coalition line-up so far consists of parties with 238 MPs between them.
“We expect that after the new prime minister is chosen, the new government will get down to work next month after the business of allocating ministries is over and done with,” the Pheu Thai deputy leader said.
However, Pheu Thai secretary-general Prasert Chantararuangthong said support for the coalition has now climbed to 278 MPs, with the latest addition of the PPRP, which has pledged that its 40 MPs will vote for Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate.
“We’re confident Mr Srettha’s nomination will sail through in a single round of voting,” he said.
Parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said yesterday the vote will likely be called either on Friday or Aug 22.
Meanwhile, Senator Kittisak Rattanawaraha admitted some senators doubt whether Mr Srettha will become prime minister. He said he believed the new premier would not be one of the three Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidates.
“It appears credible that the right to form a new government will pass from the Pheu Thai Party to the third-biggest, the Bhumjaithai Party or even the fourth-ranked PPRP,” he said.