Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat will face a challenge over his qualifications and a request for the dissolution of his cabinet if he becomes prime minister, serial petitioner Ruangkrai Leekitwattana said on Monday.
Mr Ruangkrai said at the office of the Election Commission that if Mr Pita becomes prime minister he would file a petition signed by at least one-in-ten House representatives asking the court to consider the qualifications and eligibility of Mr Pita and his cabinet.
Mr Ruangkrai is a member of the Palang Pracharath Party, which still leads the caretaker government. PPRP came fourth in the May 14 general election. Mr Pita’s Move Forward Party won the most seats and has first option to form a coalition government.
“If Mr Pita overcomes hurdles and becomes the prime minister, I will proceed with a petition for the disbandment of his whole cabinet,” Mr Ruangkrai said.
On Monday Mr Ruangkrai was at the office of the Election Commission to testify in his complaint about Mr Pita’s qualifications. The complaint was based on Mr Pita’s alleged holding of 42,000 shares in iTV Plc, a registered but now defunct media company. The constitution prohibits shareholders of media organisations sitting in the House of Representatives.
Mr Ruangkrai said Mr Pita had run in the 2019 general election as a candidate of the since-disbanded Future Forward Party and the EC would need to ask the Constitutional Court to disqualify Mr Pita retroactively.
If Mr Pita were to be retroactively disqualified, there would be problems with the allowances paid to Mr Pita and his assistant MPs, Mr Ruangkrai said. He had asked the EC to do the retroactive investigation.
Disqualification would also affect Mr Pita’s approval of Move Forward candidates in the May 14 general election this year, and his status as his party’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr Ruangkrai said.
Ruangkrai Leekitwattana