The Office of Ombudsman rejected a petition for its ruling on the eight-year tenure of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, saying it has no authority on the matter.
The ombudsmen yesterday (Aug 17) decided to dismiss the petition from Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Thai Constitution, who asked the ombudsmen to consider the prime minister’s tenure and inform the Constitutional Court of their opinion on the issue.
The ombudsmen said that the petition did not ask them to consider the constitutionality of any law and send its finding to the Constitutional Court in accordance with Section 23(1) of the Organic Act on Ombudsmen.
The issue concerned the qualifications of a political position holder. Section 170 of the constitution allows the Election Commission or one-tenth of all representatives to ask the Constitutional Court to consider the qualifications.
Therefore, the ombudsmen viewed that the issue concerned the authority of another independent organization and Section 37(4) of the Organic Act on Ombudsmen prohibited them from handling such an issue.
The constitution limits the term of a prime minister at eight years. Parties concerned were discussing when Gen Prayut’s eight-year term should end. Some parties insisted it could be on Aug 23 this year. (TNA)
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