The Prime Ministerial vote, previously scheduled for this Friday (4 August), has been postponed as the Constitutional Court has yet to rule on the petition asking whether prohibiting repeated nominations of candidates for Prime Minister is unconstitutional.

The Office of the Constitutional Court issued a press release this morning (3 August) stating that the Court will rule whether to accept the petition on 16 August, saying that the issues need to be considered carefully. Any temporary orders will also be issued on the same date.

After parliament voted on 19 July to prohibit a Prime Minister candidate from being nominated more than once, preventing Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from being renominated during this parliament’s term, complaints were filed with the Office of the Ombudsman asking it to submit a petition to the Constitutional Court to rule whether the decision is unconstitutional and saying that Section 41 of the Parliamentary Regulations, which was claimed to support the rejection of Pita’s renomination, violates the rights and freedoms of the complainants. The Office of the Ombudsman filed a petition with the Constitutional Court on 24 July.

House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said today (3 August) that the upcoming Prime Ministerial vote scheduled for Friday (4 August) will be postponed indefinitely, since parliament has to wait for the Court to issue a ruling, and because more information had been submitted to the Court by political parties. However, parliament will still debate the motion filed by the Move Forward Party on the repeal of Section 272 in the Constitution, which allows the Senate to join the Prime Ministerial vote.

A press conference scheduled by the Pheu Thai Party this afternoon has also been postponed, said Phumtham Wechayachai, Deputy Leader of the Pheu Thai Party. The Party announced yesterday (2 August) that it has parted ways with the Move Forward Party in order to gain enough votes from the Senate and conservative parties who oppose amending the royal defamation law, and previously planned to announce the new government coalition today. However, Phumtham said that the Party postponed the announcement after the Prime Ministerial vote was postponed.