Thai court to decide on election winners’ challenge to derailed PM bid

BANGKOK, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court was due on Wednesday to decide whether to review a parliamentary decision that blocked a second prime ministerial bid by election winners Move Forward, a move that could end or prolong weeks of political deadlock.

Thailand has been under a caretaker government for five months and its biggest parties in parliament have been unable to form a government after Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the anti-establishment Move Forward party, was rejected as premier by lawmakers allied with the royalist military.

The court must decide whether there is merit in Move Forward’s challenge to a July 19 decision by legislators that prevented Pita from being nominated for premier for a second time after his failure at the first attempt.

If it declines to review the decision, parliament could schedule a vote within days on the prime ministerial candidacy of businessman and political neophyte Srettha Thavisin, of the second-place Pheu Thai Party.

If the court takes up the case, it could delay by weeks a vote on a premier and further complicate the process of forming a coalition government amid fierce bargaining among rival parties and military-appointed legislators.

House speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha has previously said a vote could be held as early as this Friday or Aug. 22.

Move Forward won the May election with huge youth and urban support for its liberal policy platform, posing a threat to business monopolies and the military’s political power.

But its effort to form a government failed to win enough support, with broad opposition to its plan to amend a law designed to insulate the monarchy from criticism.

Move Forward on Tuesday declined to back former alliance partner Pheu Thai, arguing its government would not reflect the will of the people.

Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Martin Petty

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