Thai leader Prayuth accepts party nomination

Thai leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Saturday officially accepted his party’s nomination as its main candidate to contest the prime minister’s position at the forthcoming general election and promised to build a new political climate that did away with conflict.

The 69-year-old former general appeared before 1,000 supporters at a convention centre on the outskirts of Bangkok, shortly after his selection at a meeting of the recently-formed United Thai Nation party. The prime minister’s position is not directly chosen by the popular vote.

It is selected by a joint session of both houses in the parliament. The 250-strong upper house, or Senate, is thought likely to vote as a bloc in favour of a conservative candidate, greatly enhancing the chances of who it favours. In the previous election in 2019 the Senate unanimously backed Prayuth.