Thai king’s sister not on list of PM candidates

THAILAND’S election panel yesterday disqualified the king’s sister from running for prime minister, putting an end to a stunning, short-lived candidacy by echoing King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s words that royalty should be “above politics.”

The Election Commission released the official list of parties’ candidates for prime minister without the name of Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, 67, the king’s elder sister.

The list excluded Ubolratana “because every member of the royal family comes within the application of the same rule requiring the monarch to be above politics and to be politically neutral,” the panel said.

The princess had accepted the nomination of the Thai Raksa Chart party, a populist movement drawn from supporters of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been at the center of more than a decade of turmoil in Thai politics.

The March 24 elections are the first since a 2014 military coup toppled a pro-Thaksin government. Among the candidates for prime minister is the current prime minister Prayuth Chanocha, who led the coup.

The panel did not mention a separate petition seeking to ban Thai Raksa Chart on the grounds that it violated election laws against using the monarchy in campaigning.

Ubolratana’s surprise nomination broke with a tradition that members of the royal family stay out of politics.

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, but the royal family wields great influence and commands the devotion of millions of Thais.

In a statement within hours of Ubolratana’s announcement as a candidate, King Vajiralongkorn said it was “inappropriate” and unconstitutional for royal family members to enter politics.

(Reuters)