Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is currently in office, has voiced confidence that his United Thai Nation Party will garner enough votes in the upcoming election to designate him as the country’s next leader.
However, he added that he is prepared to accept the poll’s conclusions regardless of what they turn out to be. “Let me simply return home. Where could I go else? When asked if he would give up politics if his party and its partners were unable to secure enough support to form a coalition, he responded.
The outgoing prime minister noted that, according to recent opinion polls, he and his United Thai Nation have been making gains in an exclusive interview with Thai PBS on Saturday.
Prayut is a United Thai Nation candidate for prime minister, however he is not a member of parliament. Up to three prime ministerial candidates may be proposed by each political party in the election, but for such nominations to be accepted, the party must win at least 25 House seats.
When asked about his chances of winning the election again, he responded, “I am optimistic that we will win at least 25 seats, but it depends on whether the people will give me enough votes to continue working. If not, someone else will step in, he continued.
Prayut said that disagreements with those who supported the Palang Pracharath Party’s head Gen Prawit Wongsuwan were a factor in his decision to leave the organization.
After a falling out with Palang Pracharath’s leader Prawit, Prayut was elected prime minister under that party’s banner in the most recent general election in 2019. However, he later left to join United Thai Nation.
Prayut argues that he and Prawit are still “brothers” despite their divergent political views.
Prawit, who is also vying to become the next prime minister of the nation, has been seeking to distance himself from Prayut and the coup the latter masterminded in 2014 in order to present himself as a broker of peace who is prepared to put an end to the nation’s protracted political polarization.
