Thaksin Shinwatra, a billionaire fugitive former premier who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, posted on his Twitter account Saturday morning, August 5, he will postpone his arrival to Thailand by about two weeks “and will inform” the public anew about the exact date as “the doctor summoned him for a health checkup”
The Spring Vote Facebook page, which has been counting the times Thaksin failed to live up to his promise to return to Thailand since 2009, stated that now it’s 19.
This time his postponement involved the vote for a prime minister in parliament that the Pheu Thai Party would nominate its candidate, real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin, as prime minister.
House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said the vote for a prime minister would be delayed pending the Constitution Court’s decision whether to accept the petition from the state ombudsman on whether it was constitutional for Parliament to bar Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from being nominated as a prime ministerial candidate a second time.
The court said in a statement Thursday that it will meet again on Aug. 16. If accepted, the court could order the vote to be postponed until it issues a ruling.
Pheu Thai’s plan to unveil its new coalition partners on Thursday, as well as the Move Forward Party’s decision on whether it would vote for Srettha, were also postponed following the court’s announcement.
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