Sixty-three candidates for prime minister have been nominated by 43 political parties contesting in the May 14 general election.

Thai PBS World offers a guide to the upcoming contest for Thailand’s top job.

How Thailand will get its next PM

Unlike its predecessors, the current Constitution, enacted in 2017, does not require the prime minister to be an elected member of Parliament.

Under this charter, political parties contesting a general election can each nominate up to three prime ministerial candidates via the Election Commission.

The House of Representatives is empowered to consider and approve the appointment of one of those candidates as prime minister. However, a transitory clause empowers the Senate to join the Lower House in selecting the prime minister for five years after Parliament first convened under the 2017 charter – which was in 2019. To win the PM’s post, a candidate needs to win a majority of votes from both Houses.

To qualify for the parliamentary vote, candidates must be from a party that wins at least 25 MP seats, or 5% of the total 500 seats, and endorsed by at least one-tenth of the House (50 MPs).

Following the previous election in 2019, only five parties qualified to join the race for the PM seat – Pheu Thai, Palang Pracharath, Bhumjaithai, the Democrats, and Future Forward.

If no PM candidate wins majority support from both Houses, resulting in an impasse where a new government cannot be formed, the charter’s transitional clause allows Parliament to consider outsiders for the post of prime minister. In this case, support from at least two-thirds of parliamentarians in attendance is required to suspend the rule that PM candidates must be party nominees.

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Senate can still vote for new PM

After next month’s election, senators will still be able to join the newly elected MPs in a joint parliamentary session to vote on the next prime minister.

This could be the last time that the Senate exercises this right, which will expire five years after the national assembly under the current Constitution convened its first session, on May 24, 2019.

Outstanding PM candidates

The 63 PM candidates include the incumbent, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, several leading figures in the coalition government, key opposition members, and political debutants with high hopes. Here are the top contenders:

• Prayut, 69, from the one-year-old United Thai Nation Party
• Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, youngest daughter of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, from the opposition Pheu Thai Party
• Srettha Thavisin, 60, former chief executive of luxury real estate developer Sansiri, another candidate from Pheu Thai
• Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, leader of the opposition Move Forward Party
• Anutin Charnvirakul, 56, leader of the coalition’s Bhumjaithai Party
• Prawit Wongsuwan, 77, leader of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party
• Jurin Laksanawisit, 67, leader of the coalition member Democrats, Thailand’s oldest political party.

Most parties nominate sole PM candidate

Twenty-nine parties nominated only one candidate, though the law allows up to three. Eight parties nominated two candidates and six parties put forward the maximum of three nominations.

9 out of 63 PM candidates are women

Out of the 63 prime ministerial candidates nominated by 43 political parties, only nine are women, accounting for just 14% of the total.

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Thailand’s 30th PM?

The next prime minister will be Thailand’s 30th – unless Prayut manages to win back the top seat, in which case the number will remain unchanged at 29.

Tenure limit looms for Prayut

If the joint meeting of both Houses votes for him to resume the premiership, General Prayut will be able to serve only until April 2025, as per a Constitutional Court verdict issued last September.

The court ruled that Prayut’s eight-year term limit as PM should be counted from when the current charter took effect, on April 6, 2017.

Prayut has served as the nation’s leader for a combined period of more than eight years and seven months. He first became prime minister in August 2014, three months after seizing power in a coup.

He was appointed prime minister again after winning majority support from both Houses following the March 2019 election.

Should he manage to return for another two years, he will have spent over 10 years in the top job – a milestone achieved by only two of his predecessors.

Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram holds the record, with 15 years and 11 months at the nation’s helm, while Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn spent 10 years and six months in the top job.

By Thai PBS World