House speaker-elect Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said Wednesday that there is no limit to how many times parliament will meet to select the prime minister and Move Forward party leader Pita Limjaroenrat will not necessarily be the sole prime ministerial candidate.

He said that one joint meeting of the House and Senate may be enough, if Pita can muster the combined support of 376 MPs and senators.

He maintains that parliament is mandated by the Constitution to find the prime minister, adding “we must try until a prime minister can be selected, because we cannot govern the country without one.”

Wan has already consulted with Senate Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai on the date for the first joint meeting of the House and Senate to select the prime minister, on July 13.  An official notice will be sent to all MPs and senators by the secretariat of parliament.

The House speaker-elect explained that the Constitution does not specify that the prime minister must be selected from candidates which meet the qualifications set by the Election Commission.

If none of the candidates are selected, then parliament can nominate an outsider for prime minister, he said adding, however, that this process is time consuming and the outsider must have the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate.

Wan said that the eight coalition parties have agreed, in their memorandum of understanding, to support Pita as the next prime minister, adding that there would not be a problem for Pita if the Senate were not involved in the selection process, “because 312 votes of the eight coalition parties would be more than enough.”