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14-07-2023
BANGKOK: Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive party that won the most votes in Thailand’s general election, has failed in his initial bid to become the country’s next prime minister.
The 42-year-old businessman, who heads the Move Forward party, was unopposed in Thursday’s contest, but could not muster the required support from Thailand’s bicameral legislature, with a host of abstentions and votes against him.
Pita’s eight-party alliance controls 312 seats in the lower house, but to get the required 375 votes, he needed support from some of the 249 members of the conservative-leaning upper house, which was appointed by the military after a coup in 2014.
When voting concluded, Pita had won 323 votes, including 13 from senators, according to local media reports.
Some 182 legislators voted against him while 198 abstained.
Many senators are opposed to Move Forward’s anti-establishment agenda, which includes a controversial plan to amend a law that bans insulting the monarchy.
The vote on Thursday marked a pivotal moment for Thailand in the aftermath of Move Forward’s shock election success in the May 14 general election and raises fears of renewed political instability in a country that has seen more than a dozen military coups in the past century.
Pita’s defeat in parliament was the latest blow dealt to the politician and his party by the conservative establishment, with Thailand’s Constitutional Court taking up two legal complaints against them on the eve of the election.
The court agreed on Wednesday to review a complaint against Move Forward over its plan to amend the law that prohibits insulting the monarchy.
The announcement came just hours after the election commission also recommended that the court disqualify Pita from parliament.
The recommendation followed a probe into Pita’s ownership of shares in a media company. Politicians are not allowed to own media shares. The station has not broadcasted since 2007 and Pita has said the shares were inherited from his father.
He defended himself again in parliament on Thursday and urged legislators to respect the people’s will.
“This is not a vote for me nor my party but a vote for opening a chance to return normalcy to Thailand,” he said. (Int’l News Desk)
