The King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej has signed a royal decree to open a special parliamentary session on next Monday which aims at electing a new prime minister, House Speaker Chai Chidchob said on Thursday.

The special session in the House of Representatives is scheduled at 9:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Monday, according to Chai.

The need to fill the vacant top seat in the government came after a Constitution Court verdict on Dec. 2 disbanded three ruling coalition parties, including the leading People Power Party (PPP), on electoral fraud charges and banned all party executives from politics for five years, including PPP acting leader, former PM Somchai Wongsawat.

Earlier, the opposition Democrat Party gathered names of its MPs and supporters to submit to the House Speaker to petition the opening of an extraordinary parliamentary session to elect a new prime minister. The Democrat is going to nominate party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the new PM candidate.

Meanwhile, the Puea Thai party, the reincarnation of the now defunct PPP, is also ralling support to form a new government. Both sides claimed they have enough MP seats required, which should account for simple majority in the 480-seat House, to form a new government.

The Puea Thai Party has proposed to form a national government, which unites all parties, and said that it would not nominate a premier from inside the party.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2008)