Thailand’s Palang Pracharat Party will stay for the full term despite rumours that there could be an early house dissolution, an MP from the ruling party told Thai Enquirer on Tuesday.
The parliamentarian was responding to rumours which spread over the weekend that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha was set to resign or that the house was about to be dissolved.
The rumours sparked numerous hashtags including several that opposed any possibility of an appointed premier in the event that Prayut did resign.
“We have heard the rumours inside the party and there is absolutely no truth to it at all,” said the MP from Bangkok who asked not to be named.
“As far as we’re concerned, this government will go the full term and we will win the next election as well,” he said.
Thailand’s ruling party and its coalition partners have been under immense pressure due to the country’s botched Covid-19 response.
A series of increasingly severe lockdowns have failed to curtail the spread of the virus with hundreds of thousands infected since April 1 and thousands dead.
The lockdown has also brought about untold hardship to the country’s most vulnerable population with many people subsisting on savings or handouts.
The country’s vaccination program is also lagging behind with vaccine shortages being reported throughout the country.