Top executives of the Democrat and Palang Pracharath parties have downplayed the results of Saturday’s confidence vote that put two cabinet ministers in the spotlight.
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit came last in the vote on Saturday with approval from 241 of 471 MPs on the floor. Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda received the most no-confidence votes at 212, against 245 votes of confidence.
Those tallies compared with the table-topping 268 votes of confidence for Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon — 12 more than Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha received.
Democrat secretary-general Chalermchai Sri-on said after the vote that the result should not be interpreted as an attempt to pressure Mr Jurin to step down as the party leader or quit the cabinet. Most Democrat MPs voted in line with the party’s direction, he added.
Democrat spokesman Rames Rattanachaweng said the voting pattern underlined the unity within the party. But the party has questioned the motives of three Chartthaipattana MPs who abstained when Mr Jurin’s name came up, he added.
“The party has a question about this and is unhappy with this,” he wrote on the party’s Facebook page.
The high number of no-confidence votes for Gen Anupong came amid speculation that several Palang Pracharath members want their leader, Gen Prawit, to take over as interior minister to drive party preparations for a new general election.
Gen Anupong is known to work through a network of local leaders like tambon chiefs and village heads instead of relying on MPs to mobilise support for the government and the PPRP. Being cut out of the Interior Ministry's potentially lucrative patronage loop rubs some party MPs the wrong way.
Gen Prawit said any change in the cabinet would be decided by Gen Prayut. “It’s up to the prime minister,” he said.
The prime minister said on Friday that he had no plan to revamp the cabinet.
The three former generals — Prayut, Prawit and Anupong — have close ties dating back decades as they rose through the ranks of the army.
Outside Parliament, meanwhile, a parallel vote showed the prime minister and 10 other cabinet ministers were rejected by almost 525,000 online voters.
The informal online poll was staged to show the true sentiment of voters about the ministers targeted by the opposition, organisers said.
The next general election is expected to be held early next year.