Thai PM Prayuth says he will not resign despite opposition MPs' pressure

BANGKOK: Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha said he had no intention of resigning despite the pressure put on him by opposition members of parliament (MPs) to quit.

In the latest development yesterday, an opposition MP from Chiang Mai, Tassanee Buranupakorn, drafted a resignation letter on behalf of Prayuth stating that the prime minister would resign as "he has miserably failed in all aspect in administering the country". The drafted resignation letter was tweeted on late Thursday night.

During a parliamentary debate today, Prayuth reiterated that he would not resign.

"Yesterday, there was an effort to get me to resign, with the submission of a resignation letter. You can keep that for yourself. I'm not about to quit," he said, as quoted by Thai PBS.

Last year, Prayuth - a former army chief who seized power in 2014 - faced growing pressure as anti-government protesters returned to the streets demanding him to resign over his handling of COVID-19 crisis and vaccine roll-out.

Since returning as prime minister after a general election in 2019, Prayuth survived at least three no-confidence votes in the parliament.

-- BERNAMA