His Majesty the King will preside over the official opening of parliament on March 14, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced today during a seminar for Bhumjaithai party MPs in Buri Ram province.
After the opening ceremony, the first meeting of the House of Representatives will elect the House Speaker and two deputies who will, subsequently, be formally appointed by the King. After that, the new House Speaker will call a meeting of all MPs to elect a prime minister from among the candidates nominated by each party.
The House Speaker will seek Royal approval for the new prime minister, who is expected to Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai party. The prime minister will then name his Cabinet members and lead them in taking the oath of allegiance before the King. The new Cabinet can then start work.
On the formation of the government, Anutin said that the process is 99.99% complete, but the details must remain confidential until he is formally appointed.
If there are no last-minute changes, the new government will comprise two major parties, Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai and the rest are smaller parties, many of which have only one or two MPs in the parliament.
In total, the coalition government will command 292 votes in the 500-member House of Representatives.
The rest, among them the People’s, Kla Tham and Democrat parties, will be in opposition.
Commenting on an online message by Phai Lik, secretary-general of the Kla Tham party, that the party is ready to take their place in opposition, Prime Minister Anutin said MPs need be prepared to assume the role of either government or opposition, because both roles are useful to the country.
