Thailand’s Anutin moves closer to power with unlikely support from reformist rivals

Thai lawmakers will vote for a new prime minister on Friday, with Anutin Charnvirakul in pole position for office after his conservative party won the unlikely support of the country’s reformist opposition, which holds the most parliamentary seats.

The vote offers a way out of the deadlock that has gripped the politically combustible country since last week when prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed by judges for an ethics breach in a leaked call with Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen.

A bid by her weakened Pheu Thai party to dissolve parliament and block Anutin’s rise to office – while controlling the time frame to a snap election – appeared to have fallen apart late on Wednesday.

If Friday’s poll goes ahead, Anutin, 58, heir to a construction empire, a pilot, avid karaoke singer and sports fan, says he is confident that he has 146 votes from his Bhumjaithai party and its allies. That, in addition to an expected 143 from the opposition People’s Party, will enable him to reach the 247 lower house majority needed to become prime minister.