Thai PM sets course for early election amid border and parliamentary unrest

By Panarat Thepgumpanat

Thailand was heading on Friday for a snap poll as soon as February, after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul won royal backing to dissolve parliament, heading off the risk of a no-confidence vote amid a raging border conflict with Cambodia.

The election, due within 45 to 60 days, raises the spectre of even more turmoil in Thailand, where coups and court rulings over two decades have brought down elected governments in an intractable power struggle of elites and progressive forces.

Anutin's move comes as the military conflict between Thailand and Cambodia entered its fifth day, with at least 20 killed, more than 260 wounded and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The Thai premier said he had a call scheduled late on Friday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who intervened in July to broker a fragile truce the last time fighting erupted.

CYCLE OF POLITICAL DRAMA

On Thursday, Anutin said he was "returning power to the people" and King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved his petition for a general election within hours, the royal gazette showed, paving the way for a ballot as soon as February.

The decision, less than 100 days after Anutin took charge as head of a minority government, came amid high drama that raised expectations for the opposition People's Party, the biggest force in the house, to seek a no-confidence vote against him.

Anutin was elected prime minister by parliament in September after a court removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office.

His succession was only made possible by a deal struck with the People's Party to back him in return for supporting a constitution amendment process and dissolving the house in late January.

But chaos ensued in a joint sitting of the legislature on Thursday over the voting process to amend the constitution, with the opposition accusing Anutin's Bhumjaithai party of reneging on their deal.

A government spokesperson said a no-confidence vote had been expected.

ELECTORAL CHALLENGE FOR ANUTIN

Thailand's third prime minister in two years, Anutin faces an uphill struggle to be re-elected, with opinion polls consistently showing the liberal opposition to be the most popular party.

An astute political dealmaker who has negotiated key ministerial posts and a place for his party in numerous coalition governments, Anutin will need to drum up support in the countryside and among influential elites to forge new alliances and keep the People's Party at bay.

A forerunner of the People's Party won the 2023 election on an anti-establishment platform but was blocked from forming a government by lawmakers allied with the royalist military.

Anutin insisted he had honoured the pact with the opposition.

"We have to accept that we became a government thanks to the support from the People's Party," Anutin said.

"You voted for me to be the prime minister and are now saying you do not support me anymore, and ask me to dissolve parliament," he added. "I just did what you asked."