Thai PM to dissolve parliament before term ends next month

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has “a date in mind” for when parliament will be dissolved, which he said will come before the government’s term ends late next month.
He declined to disclose the date in his remarks to reporters late on Thursday, which was the first time Prayuth has said the house would be dissolved early. According to a timeline in the constitution, an election must be held before May 7.
The ballot could make for a grudge match for the premiership that pits two royalist former army chiefs against the billionaire Shinawatra family, whose elected governments the generals helped to overthrow in coups in 2006 and 2014.
Prayuth, 68, has fared poorly in recent opinion polls against the Pheu Thai Party’s Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 36-year-old daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra and niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, both self-exiled former prime ministers.
He is expected to run also against his 77-year-old military mentor Prawit Wongsuwan, his deputy prime minister and veteran political kingmaker from the same royalist army regiment.