Thai PM dissolves parliament
Calls election
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha dissolved parliament yesterday, setting up a general election in May as the former coup leader seeks to extend army-backed rule.
The vote pits unpopular former army chief Prayut, who came to power in a 2014 putsch, against the daughter of billionaire former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who still casts a shadow over the kingdom's political scene despite more than a decade in exile.
The main opposition Pheu Thai group, fronted by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is polling strongly but Thailand's junta-scripted 2017 constitution will make it hard for her to secure the top job.
A statement in the official Royal Gazette published yesterday announced the dissolution, and the Election Commission will confirm the date of the poll later, with May 7 or 14 tipped as most likely.
The election is the second since the 2014 coup and the first since the country was rocked by massive, youth-led pro-democracy protests in Bangkok in 2020.
Unofficial campaigning has been under way for weeks, with rising living costs and kingdom's sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic high on the agenda.