Thailand’s winning candidate for PM blocked from power

The leader of Thailand’s pro-reform party has been blocked from taking power by a parliamentary vote that includes military-appointed senators despite winning the most seats in the election in May.

Pita Limjaroenrat’s progressive Move Forward party, which campaigned on a promise of change after nine years of rule by a former army chief, gained the most votes two months ago, but election rules rewritten after a military coup in 2014 require him to have majority support from parliament to become prime minister.

He had formed a coalition with other opposition parties that was expected to grant him 312 votes, but to reach the threshold of 375, Pita also needed to win support from MPs outside his bloc or unelected senators in the upper house. However, all the current senators were appointed by the military and are seen as part of the conservative establishment.

Pita ran unopposed in the vote but failed to gain a majority in parliament, made up of 749 members. Only 324 supported him, including 13 senators, while 182 voted against. A further 199 abstained.

Speaking after the vote, Pita said he accepted the result but that he was not going to give up. “Thank you for the 13 votes [from senators] who are brave enough to reflect [the] people’s voice,” he said. “I understand there’s a lot of pressure on them, as well as several incentives that didn’t allow them to vote in alignment with the people. But I’m not giving up, I’m going to strategise once again.”

The comment sections of livestreams broadcasting the vote were filled with anger towards senators, saying they had failed to respect the will of the people and that those who had abstained were a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Near to parliament, shipping containers were stacked and razor wire was put on overpasses to deter demonstrations.

Move Forward had campaigned on the promise of major reform, including breaking up monopolies, ending military conscription, removing the military’s influence from politics and amending a strict law that forbids criticism of the monarchy.

The pledge on the monarchy is highly controversial among conservatives and, in a parliamentary session before the vote, it was repeatedly cited as a reason why senators and MPs would not support him. Some accused Pita of risking chaos and seeking to undermine the royal family.

One senator, Seree Suwanpanont, said: “It’s clear that this operation is aiming to overthrow [the royals]. How can we, the senators, support you to do this?”

Two days have been set aside next week for a repeat of the ballot and Pita can run again.

If he does so, he is unlikely to be able to garner enough support to pass, said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate professor at Mahidol University.

“For the senate, it’s going to be very difficult for [Move Forward] to get more votes in the second round, and the dangerous thing is [that] those who voted [for Pita] might be lobbied by other senators to not vote in the second round,” she said.

Adding to Pita’s troubles, he is facing two legal cases in the constitutional court, including over an allegation that he breached election rules by owning media shares, which he denies.

The second case centres on a claim that his pledge to reform lese-majesty law, which protects the monarchy from criticism, amounted to an attempt “to overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state”.

Thailand has some of the world’s strictest such legislation, under which criticism of the royals can lead to up to 15 years in prison. More than 250 people, including children, have been charged under the law since 2020.

In parliament, Pita insisted that the allegations against him were unproven and he was still eligible to become prime minister. He also sought to allay concerns over his stance on the royal family, saying he believed that the Thai monarchy would continue.

He said he was concerned that the institution and the lese-majesty law were being used as tools for political attacks.

“Several groups are trying to block me because they are losing benefits,” Pita said, adding that the same people used the monarchy as a pretext to oppose change.

“It’s time for us to face this problem maturely and solve it at its root, by ending the use of the monarchy in political conflicts, and finding a way to maintain good relations between the king and the people in these changing times, in line with a modern democratic society.”

It is likely that Move Forward’s coalition partner, Pheu Thai, the party associated with the exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra, will put forward a candidate for either the second or third ballot.

A scenario where a Pheu Thai candidate is selected as prime minister may be acceptable to some voters, including those who want to oust Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has been in power since the coup, said Punchada. But young people are less likely to be satisfied with this arrangement, she added, saying they will protest, though it is unclear whether they will be able to sustain demonstrations.

Napon Jatusripitak, a visiting fellow at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said the events in parliament could “ignite substantial frustration and discontent among the public, particularly among those who feel that the democratic process has been undermined by actors or institutions that appear to prioritise interests other than the popular will”.

Crowds gathered in central Bangkok on Wednesday evening, some holding signs that read “respect my vote” and “senators don’t vote against the people’s will”.

Arnon Nampa, a human rights lawyer and activist at the forefront of the monarchy reform protests of 2020, told those assembled: “Tomorrow, if we are betrayed, if we are prevented from having a government elected by the people, we will definitely stand up and fight.”