Suspend Prayuth and enforce term limit, opposition party petitions court

A leading opposition party petitioned the Constitutional Court this afternoon to intervene and enforce the statutory eight-year term limit for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

A week before the eighth anniversary of then-junta boss Prayuth installing himself as nominal prime minister, Cholnan Srikaew of the Pheu Thai Party and other lawmakers submitted a letter asking the court to suspend his rule while ruling on whether he can serve past Aug. 24.

“The petition asks the court to order the prime minister to stop performing duties until a decision is made to prevent damage to the exercise of powers and duties,” Cholnan said.

The 2017 constitution limits a prime minister to a cumulative total of eight years in office. Under that seemingly unbendable rule, Prayuth’s time is up seven days from today.

The letter will be sent to Speaker of Parliament Chuan…