Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, a member of the opposition Prachachart Party, has been selected as the speaker of Thailand’s House of Representatives, paving the way for the selection of the country’s next prime minister. Known as Wan Noor for short, the 79-year-old was elected unopposed by all 500 members of the House after he was nominated by the Move Forward Party (MFP) and Pheu Thai Party (PTP), the two biggest parties in parliament.
This is the second time that Wan Noor has held the post of speakership, after serving in the role in 1996-2000, under prime ministers Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (1996-1997) and Chuan Leekpai (1997-2000). It is rare for the speaker to come from such a small party; Prachachart, the third-largest party in the MFP-led coalition, holds just nine seats in the House of Representatives.
But it makes sense when one considers that his nomination was a compromise between the MFP and PTP, which won a convincing victory at the general election on May 14, winning 151 and 141 seats, respectively, and have joined forces with six smaller parties in the hope of ending nearly a decade of military and military-backed rule.
Despite days of negotiations, however, the two parties had failed to reach a consensus over who they should nominate for the crucial post. The MFP initially demanded the speakership in order to facilitate the passage of its ambitious policy agenda through parliament, while Pheu Thai argued that if the prime ministership went to the MFP’s leader Pita Limjaroenrat, then as the second-placed party, it deserved to hold the second-most powerful political post. Indeed, the disagreement between the two parties spurred speculation over whether the coalition would collapse before being able to form a government.
According to the Thai Enquirer, Pita said after the vote that the MFP decided to relinquish the position to Wan Noor to preserve long-term unity between the coalition parties.
Wan Noor’s selection for house speaker, a position that has a lot of power to table or obstruct legislation, adds an interesting new element to the Thai political equation. The politician, a Muslim from southern Thailand who was once a member of the PTP’s predecessor Thai Rak Thai, has expressed opposition to important parts of the MFP’s progressive platform, such as its push for same-sex marriage and its Progressive Liquor Bill, which seeks to break up the powerful monopolies in the alcohol industry.
However, MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat said in a Facebook post today that Wan Noor has pledged not to block or delay any bills proposed by his government.
That’s all in the future, however. Once he takes up the post, among Wan Noor’s first tasks will be to preside over the joint sitting of parliament that will vote on a prime minister to form the next government. While the MFP-led coalition will nominate Pita as its candidate for PM, it holds just 312 seats, falling considerably short of the 376 that it needs to overcome the likely opposition of the 250-member Senate, a constitutional bulwark against the ascent of a non- or anti-establishment candidate.
A week out from the scheduled joint sitting, it remains unclear whether the coalition has the votes to deliver Pita the prime ministership. The 42-year-old former businessman insists that he has the votes, but many observers remain skeptical – and Wan Noor’s frictionless selection gives no indication about how the prime ministerial vote will go.
“The house speakership doesn’t lend more certainty for the premiership,” Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University, told Bloomberg. “It may take a while still before we get a prime minister.”
What might happen if Pita fails to meet the 376-seat threshold is hard to say, but having ceded its hold over the parliamentary speakership to preserve its coalition, there is a decent chance that the largest party in the Thai parliament may end up holding neither of the country’s two most powerful positions.