Thai Parliament postpones vote to select new prime minister pending court ruling

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s house speaker says that a vote expected in Parliament later this week to select a new prime minister will be postponed, adding to growing uncertainty over when a new government can take office, more than two months after the general election. House of Representatives Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha told reporters Tuesday that the vote he had scheduled for Thursday would be postponed pending a Constitutional Court decision. The state ombudsman has asked the court to rule whether it was legal to bar Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from being nominated as a prime ministerial candidate a second time. Pita lost a first vote in Parliament on July 13, and then was barred from a second try last week on a procedural vote.