Thailand Parliament postpones vote to select new Prime Minister pending court ruling

A vote expected in Thailand’s Parliament later this week to select a new Prime Minister will be postponed adding to growing uncertainty over when a new government can take office

A vote expected in Thailand's Parliament later this week to select a new Prime Minister will be postponed, the house speaker said Tuesday, adding to growing uncertainty over when a new government can take office, more than two months after the general election.

House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha told reporters the vote he had scheduled for Thursday would be postponed pending a decision from the Constitutional Court. The state ombudsman has asked the court to rule whether it was legal to bar Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from being nominated as a prime ministerial candidate a second time.

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Mr. Pita lost a first vote in Parliament for the top post on July 13, and then was barred from a second try last week when a procedural vote said he could not submit his name again.

The court has not yet set a date for its decision.

Wan Noor also said delaying the vote would allow lawmakers to celebrate King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 71st birthday on Friday.

Mr. Pita led his progressive party to a first-place finish in the May election and assembled an eight-party coalition that together won 312 seats in the 500-member lower house. But confirming a new Prime Minister requires a majority of a joint vote with the 250-member Senate, and Mr. Pita’s initial bid fell short by more than 50 votes, largely because he failed to get support from the Senate, only 13 of whose members backed him.