Palang Pracharath Party's secretary-general Sontirat Sontijirawong on Tuesday insisted it would gather enough House seats to form a coalition government and would definitely nominate Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as the next prime minister.
"Everything is in progress and I am confident that (MPs') votes will be gathered soon. Now let the talks continue first... The party resolved that its leader and secretary-general should conduct the talks and we are working on it. I admit that talks are being coordinated with other political parties," he said.
In response to the Pheu Thai Party's argument that the party with the most constituency MPs deserved the right to form a coalition government, Mr Sontirat said the constitution valued all votes cast, and thus the legitimacy to form a government rested with the total popular vote.
"The Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) is different from other parties because it has representatives from all regions including Bangkok, while some party doesn't," he said.
"The number of House seats concerns a party with regional popularity, with many MPs in particular regions but no party list MPs -- which caused problems in the past. Therefore the (Palang Pracharath) party respects the intention of the constitution. I insist that the popular votes supports us," Mr Sontirat said.
In response to Pheu Thai's implication that it could support Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul as the next prime minister, Mr Sontirat said PPRP would keep its earlier promise to voters to nominate Gen Prayut as the next prime minister.
"We will not be the party that would trade the prime minister's post for the chance to form the government," Mr Sontirat said.
