Former PM Prayut Chan-o-cha appointed as Thailand Privy Council member

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun yesterday appointed the former Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to the Privy Council of Thailand.

The Royal Gazette yesterday, November 29, officially announced that His Majesty deemed it fitting to appoint an additional Privy Councillor at this time. The king has graciously chosen former Prime Minister Prayut for this appointment.

The Privy Council is a body of appointed advisers to the Thai monarchy, comprising up to 18 members and one president. The current President of the Privy Council of Thailand is Surayud Chulanont, who was the 24th Prime Minister of Thailand.

This appointment was announced after former PM Prayut was defeated as the United Thai Nation Party’s candidate for prime minister in the 2023 General Election in August. He later announced in July that he was retiring from politics after nine years at the helm.

According to a report on iLaw, Thailand has had a total of 30 prime ministers in its history, but only five former PMs have been appointed as members of the Privy Council of Thailand, including the 12th Prime Minister Sanya Dharmasakti, 14th Prime Minister Thanin Kraivichien, 16th Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, 24th Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and 29th Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

After the appointment, Prayut will have to take the oath of allegiance before taking office. The schedule for the ceremony has not yet been announced.

Earlier this month, the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) revealed the assets and liabilities of eight former ministers of the previous government after they officially resigned from their former positions on July 5 this year.

This is the first time in nine years that Prayut’s wealth has been revealed to the public. The latest revelation suggested that Prayut and his wife, Naraporn Chan-o-cha, had about 1.5 million baht more assets compared to the assets revealed when Prayut became prime minister on September 4, 2014.

The total assets revealed in 2014 were worth 128 million baht, and the latest assets declared this month were worth 130 million baht.