Prime Minister Anutin dissolves House

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has dissolved the House to pave the way for a snap general election.

“I have returned power to the people,” he said in a Facebook post.

HM the King reportedly endorsed a royal decree dissolving the House submitted by Anutin this evening.

Anutin has been in office for less than three months. He had earlier pledged to dissolve the House by the end of January next year as part of a political pact with the People’s Party that brought him to power.

Anutin’s decision is believed to have been prompted by a threat by the People’s Party, the biggest opposition party, to submit a no-confidence motion against his minority government.

It followed a vote by members of Parliament in a joint sitting today to require that any constitutional amendments be approved by one-third of senators.

Natthaphong Ruangpanyawut, leader of the People’s Party, subsequently called on the prime minister to dissolve the House after Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party MPs formed the majority that backed the requirement.

The party later launched a move to file a no-confidence motion against the Anutin government.

The House dissolution came as the country is embroiled in a deadly border conflict with Cambodia.