PUBLISHED : 22 Aug 2023 at 17:45
The joint sitting of the House and the Senate on Tuesday evening elected the Pheu Thai Party’s Srettha Thavisin the 30th prime minister of Thailand with 482 votes for and 165 votes against him and 81 abstentions.
There are 500 elected House representatives and currently 249 appointed senators. Mr Srettha needed a simple majority of 375 votes. In the parliament, 728 were present, meeting the needed quorum.
The parliamentary session for the prime ministerial vote started late Tuesday morning. About 11am, Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew nominated Mr Srettha, a property tycoon, as the sole prime ministerial candidate and the debate involving elected representatives and appointed senators on Mr Srettha’s qualifications for the job followed.
Many parliamentarians said Mr Srettha should have attended the session to introduce himself and his policies and clarify allegations made against him, because he was nominated for a very important position in national administration.
Some parliamentarians voiced concerns about accusations of tax avoidance in land purchases by property developer Sansiri Plc when Mr Srettha was still chief executive of the company.
Senator Wiwat Saengsuriyachat said he had little knowledge about Mr Srettha and the Pheu Thai Party had not distributed a written profile of their candidate to parliamentarians before the prime ministerial nomination.
“I have only seen news reports about him and there were many accusations against him,” Mr Wiwat said.
Suratin Pijarn, leader of the New Democracy Party, said he did not know details about Mr Srettha and was aware only that the prime ministerial candidate “built houses for sale”.
“Will we have to vote for a prime minister as if we are buying a product online?” he said.
He also asked how the Pheu Thai Party would fund its 560-billion-baht digital wallet policy. He doubted he country could afford it, given its present financial status.
Senator Gen Lertrat Ratanawanit said he recognised Mr Srettha’s performance in running Sansiri Plc but Mr Srettha should clarify the allegations against him.
At 2.50pm Pheu Thai leader Cholnan said his party was aware of the allegations against Mr Srettha, but its legal team had already investigated them and found no evidence proving that Mr Srettha had violated any law.
“The allegations have not been proved. So, Mr Srettha is considered as being innocent and honest,” Dr Cholnan said.
Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha ended the debate on Mr Srettha’s qualifications at 3.11pm and started the voting by calling the names of individual elected MPs and senators.
The voting results were announced about 5.40pm.