Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Tuesday backed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to carry on in the role for two more years.

He said he also expects Gen Prayut to be nominated as a Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) candidate for prime minister for a second time.

Gen Prawit, who also serves as PPRP leader, said that he was ready to once again nominate Gen Prayut as the prime ministerial candidate of the ruling party. However, he would not refuse if party members wanted to nominate him instead.

The constitution limits the term of a prime minister to eight years, but people are divided as to when Prayut's term officially began.

Some believe it should be this month because the count started in 2014 when he first took the role of prime minister after the coup that year.

Another group claims his term should end in 2027 because he was appointed prime minister under the 2017 charter in June 2019. As a result, his eight-year limit would end in 2027.

According to another metric, the count started in April 2017 when the current charter was announced, meaning that Prayut's tenure would end in 2025.

Observers were quick to note that Gen Prawit's remarks show the government's confidence that Gen Prayut will survive the legal dispute.

If Gen Prawit is proved correct, then it would mean that Gen Prayut would not have to step down until 2025 at the earliest.