ThaiInquirer.com-Sept 14

The Constitutional Court is meeting to discuss General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s 8-year premiership term limit again on Wednesday. The deliberation is the 2nd meeting in as many weeks. The court is looking at the various clauses of the constitution in order to ascertain whether the 2014 coup leader Gen. Prayut is in any breach of the constitution. The opposition filed a petition to say that Gen. Prayut has already completed the 8-year term limit set forth by the 2017 charter. The Constitutional Court on August 24th suspended the role of Prime Minister for Gen. Prayut while it continued to deliberate on the issue. The opposition parties said Gen. Prayut’s term should be counted from August 24, 2014, when he was royally endorsed as Prime Minister under the previous interim charter that was drafted after the coup that Gen. Prayut led and used up until 2017. According to Article 170-2 and Article 158-4, no premier can stay in power for more than 8 years. However, Gen. Prayut and his supporters believe that the term should be counted from April 6, 2017, when he was royally endorsed under the current junta-drafted charter. This means that Gen. Prayut’s term would technically end in April 2025. The court already considered statements from Gen. Prayut and drafters of the 2017 charter including the former chairman of the junta-appointed constitution drafting committee (CDC) Meechai Ruchuphan and Pakorn Nilprapunt, former secretary of the CDC. The court met on September 8 to decide whether they will need more time to interpret the law or more evidence. Read more at: https://www.thaienquirer.com/44158/constitutional-court-meets-to-deliberate-on-8-year-prime-minister-term-limit-of-2014-coup-leader-gen-prayut/