Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said if he's able to return as premier after the May 14 general election, he would want United Thai Nation (UTN) Party leader Pirapan Salirathavibhaga to succeed him when his eight-year limit as prime minister expires in 2025.
Gen Prayut expressed his preference for Mr Pirapan as he arrived at the Thai-Japan Bangkok Youth Centre in Din Daeng district on Monday, as constituency candidates of various parties began registering for the polls.
"If I were to be prime minister again, my time would run out in two years," Gen Prayut said. "After that, I wish that Mr Pirapan, the party leader and second prime ministerial candidate, would succeed me. I have more than 100% confidence in him."
On Sept 30, last year, the Constitutional Court ruled Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure as PM started on April 6, 2017, when the current charter was promulgated, not when he assumed office following the 2014 coup he orchestrated.
Under the ruling, if he were re-elected as prime minister by a joint sitting of parliament after the May 14 general election, Gen Prayut would only be eligible to remain in office until 2025.
On March 25, Gen Prayut formally accepted the UTN's first prime ministerial candidate nomination at a party seminar to familiarise potential MP candidates with election rules.
At that event, he declared his readiness to return as premier and lead the next government for two more years.
Gen Prayut will not run as a list-MP candidate for the party as Mr Pirapan will be at the top of the party list.
During the registration process at the centre yesterday, Gen Prayut was seen chatting amicably with Deputy Prime Minister and Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) leader Prawit Wongsuwon.
Asked how many House seats the UTN expected to win in this election, Gen Prayut said he hoped it would emerge with the most MPs so that it could be the key driver in forming the next government.
Asked whether the UTN has any preconditions for allying with other parties after the next poll, Gen Prayut said: "There are no conditions, but we cannot join hands with every party."
Quizzed about his relations with Gen Prawit, Gen Prayut said: "He stays with another party [PPRP]. We are now competing in the political arena and pursuing our own political paths."
He refused to comment on whether he and Gen Prawit would work together as coalition partners after the next general election.
Paetongtarn "Ung Ing" Shinawatra, the Pheu Thai Party's chief adviser on public participation and innovation, also led the party's election candidates to register for the polls at the centre yesterday.
She reiterated the party's goal of achieving a landslide poll victory and said she was grateful that she was the most favoured candidate for the PM position among voters in Samut Prakan in a recent opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll. Ms Paetongtarn, and property tycoon Srettha Thavisin who serves as her adviser, are widely speculated to be among the party's candidates for prime minister. Pheu Thai is expected to formally announce all three PM candidates tomorrow.
Registration of candidates in the party-list system started on Tuesday.
