Thailand's Pheu Thai party to decide PM candidate as parliamentary vote looms
Second-biggest coalition party backs Pheu Thai candidate
Opposition party - largest in parliament - won't join alliance
Pheu Thai to announce PM candidate later Thursday
PM job could expose Thaksin's daughter to attacks, analysts say
Adds Pheu Thai comments paragraph 4, other parties paragraphs 16-18
By Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK, Aug 15 (Reuters) -The biggest party in Thailand's caretaker government met on Thursday to choose a successor for dismissed premier Srettha Thavisin, as it races to shore up alliances a day ahead of a pivotal parliamentary vote on a new prime minister.
Thailand is again gripped by political drama less than a year after real estate mogul Srettha rose to power following weeks of parliamentary deadlock, with his Pheu Thai Party scrambling to retain control and deliver on its stalled populist agenda amid a stuttering economy.
The Constitutional Court's dismissal of Srettha on Wednesday was the latest hammer blow for Pheu Thai, the electoral juggernaut of the billionaire Shinawatra family that has locked horns for two decades with Thailand's influential establishment and royalist military.
Pheu Thai said its executives would decide in the afternoon on one of two eligible prime ministerial candidates - Chaikasem Nitisiri, 75, a former attorney-general and justice minister, and its inexperienced leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 37-year-old daughter of divisive political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra.
"The process of forming a new government shouldn't take more than three weeks," party secretary-general Sorawong Thienthong said.
Uncertainty about political upheaval could add more strain to an underperforming economy that Srettha had hoped to revive with a raft of stimulus measures, some that could now be in question, including his vaunted plan to give 10,000 baht ($285) handouts to 50 million people.
Srettha was the movement's fourth premier to be removed by a court ruling and his downfall could indicate the end of an uneasy detente between Thaksin and his enemies in the conservative elite and military old guard, which had enabled the tycoon's return from self-exile in 2023 and ally Srettha to become premier the same day.
Pheu Thai has moved quickly to preserve its advantage, with media broadcasting live images late on Wednesday of its coalition partners visiting the residence of Thaksin, 75, its founder and influential figurehead.
"They want to be decisive ... The longer it takes, the more squabbles and power struggles will ensue, so the quicker the better," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University
"If they can vote sooner, then the vote is more manageable. They can control the outcome of the house."
RISK OF BACKLASH
The court ruled Srettha had "grossly breached ethical standards" when he gave a cabinet post to Thaksin's former lawyer Pichit Chuenban, who was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court in 2008 over an alleged attempt to bribe court staff, which was never proven.
The convening of parliament less than 48 hours after Srettha's dismissal contrasts sharply with last year, when it took two months for the lower house to sit to vote on a new premier after an election.
Lawmakers allied with the military had then closed ranks to block the anti-establishment election winner Move Forward from forming a government, but rallied behind Srettha and Pheu Thai in a second vote six weeks later.
The 11-party alliance holds 314 house seats - 141 of which belonging to Pheu Thai - and should have no difficulty electing a prime minister on Friday, providing it remains intact.
To become premier a candidate needs the approval of more than half of the current 493 lawmakers.
Bhumjaithai, the second-biggest party in the alliance with 70 seats, guaranteed Pheu Thai its backing.
"Bhumjaithai, as a coalition partner, gladly supports the PM candidates of Pheu Thai," leader Anutin Charnvirakul said.
Parliament's biggest force, People's Party, formed last week after a court dissolved predecessor Move Forward, signalled on Thursday it would not back Pheu Thai's candidate and would continue to lead the opposition.
Pheu Thai must decide whether to go with party stalwart Chaikasem, or give a baptism of fire to neophyte Paetongtarn, and risk the kind of backlash that saw her father and aunt Yingluck Shinawatra both toppled in coups before fleeing into exile to avoid jail.
"If it's Paetongtarn, she would be open to attack ... If you ask Thaksin, he probably wants her to be prime minister," said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University.
"The risk for Paetongtarn is higher. If Pheu Thai can't deliver anything then it could be the end of the Shinawatra family in politics."
($1 = 35.0600 baht)
NEWSMAKER-Srettha Thavisin's dramatic rise and fall in Thai politics ID:nL1N3A30WE
FACTBOX-What happens next after Thai PM Srettha Thavisin's exit? ID:nL4N3K00IK
EXPLAINER-Why Thailand's judges are front and centre in its tumultuous politics ID:nL4N3K00R2
Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um, Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by John Mair and Miral Fahmy
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