Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha can still attend cabinet meetings as the defence minister, a portfolio he holds concurrently even if he is suspended from office pending a Constitutional Court ruling on his eight-year tenure, says Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.
Mr Wissanu was speaking on Monday as the House of Representatives secretariat forwarded an opposition petition to the court seeking the ruling.
The petition was initially handed to parliament president Chuan Leekpai on Aug 17, and was checked before being forwarded to the court. It was signed by 171 MPs from the opposition bloc.
The court did not set a date to decide whether it would accept the petition for deliberation, but it was expected to do so tomorrow -- a date the opposition argue marks the end of Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure.
"If the court accepts the case, it would then make another decision on whether Gen Prayut should be temporarily suspended from office until the judges rule on the issue, or he would be allowed to continue to work as prime minister.
"Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon would likely take over as acting prime minister if Gen Prayut were suspended," Mr Wissanu said.
"Even if the court rules that Gen Prayut's eight-year tenure ends tomorrow (Wednesday), he will remain in a caretaker role and the cabinet will still be able to continue to work and issue cabinet resolutions," Mr Wissanu said.
According to Section 158 of the constitution, the maximum term of a prime minister is eight years, but there have been disagreements over when Gen Prayut's term officially concludes.
His critics believe it should be this month because the clock started in 2014 when Gen Prayut first became prime minister after the coup that year.
Another group claims his term should end in 2027 because he was appointed PM 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 promulgated, meaning Gen Prayut's tenure would end in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) threw out another petition seeking a court ruling on the tenure of Gen Prayut yesterday in a decision that riled critics.
The EC announced later that it saw no need for the petition from social activist Srisuwan Janya, saying one had already been submitted to the court by the opposition MPs.
Meanwhile, an online poll shows that most people who cast their votes in the poll did not want Gen Prayut to stay on as prime minister for more than eight years. The poll was carried out by academics from eight universities in conjunction with eight media outlets.
The poll was held from 6am Saturday to midnight on Sunday, with the results announced yesterday. Participants were asked whether Gen Prayut should or should not stay on as prime minister for more than eight years.
To take part in the poll, they had to scan a QR code posted on Facebook pages run by the media outlets to cast votes on mobile phones.
Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a law lecturer at Thammasat University, posted on Facebook yesterday that a total of 374,063 people took part in the vote.
Some 93.17% of them, or 348,511, agreed that Gen Prayut should not stay on as prime minister for more than eight years while 25,552 or 6.83% thought otherwise, he posted.
However, the vote will have no legal effect and it did not represent the opinions of people nationwide, Mr Prinya posted.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt yesterday warned a group of protesters at Larn Khon Muang -- City Hall's public ground near the Giant Swing -- not to stay overnight or take to the streets as this will break the law.
Mr Chadchart had previously given the green light to a four-day rally counting down to the eight-year limit on Gen Prayut's premiership.
The demonstration, organised by political activists Jatuporn Prompan and Nititorn Lamlua, began on Sunday and will run until tomorrow, which they say marks the end of Gen Prayut's eight-year term.
Mr Chadchart said protesters are welcome to hold activities at Larn Khon Muang, a designated demonstration site, but they must follow the rules.