Prayut 'to go home' if UTN loses

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, United Thai Nation (UTN) Party's prime ministerial candidate for Sunday's general election, greets supporters in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Thursday. (Photo: United Thai Nation Party)
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, United Thai Nation (UTN) Party's prime ministerial candidate for Sunday's general election, greets supporters in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Thursday. (Photo: United Thai Nation Party)

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he will quit politics if the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, of which he is a prime ministerial candidate, fails to win enough House seats to form a government in Sunday's election.

Prayut spoke during a campaign rally in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

"If we win only a small number of constituency seats, I will just return home and take a rest," Prayut went on to say.

"Previously, I had to work with several parties and many groups. Some were easy to deal with, but some were not," he said.

He went on to say that: "I've spent many years as a soldier and went through several crises. Today, I am a politician. It is different. When I spoke to soldiers, I had to be firm.

"But when I speak to people, it is different, and I think I prefer this way," Prayut said.

The UTN will hold a final campaign rally today at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok.

Prayut will also lead key party figures in campaigning around the city, riding on the back of a pickup truck around key districts tomorrow, which is the last day of campaigning by political parties.

By law, parties must stop their campaigns before 6pm on Saturday.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • campaign: a planned series of activities - การรณรงค์
  • candidate: a person who is trying to be elected - ผู้สมัครรับเลือกตั้ง
  • constituency: a district that elects its own representative to parliament - เขตเลือกตั้ง
  • crisis (plural crises): a situation that has reached an extremely difficult or dangerous point - ช่วงวิกฤต
  • firm: strong; definite - หนักแน่น
  • House: House of Representatives - สภา
  • party: an organized group of people who have similar ideas about the way in which a country should be governed, and who work together to try to persuade people to vote for them in elections - พรรค การเมือง
  • previously: before -
  • rally: a large public gathering of people to support someone or to protest against something - การชุมนุม
Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (6)
MORE IN SECTION