THAI PRINCESS’ BID FOR PM BLOCKED
Thai king says ‘highly inappropriate’ for royal family to go into politics
ANEW Thai political party vowed yesterday to obey a command from the king blocking the candidacy of a princess for the prime minister’s post in a dramatic reversal that appeared to boost the junta’s chances ahead of elections next month.
The announcement blocks Princess Ubolratana’s unprecedented bid for the premiership and comes after an extraordinary rebuke of the candidacy by her younger brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The Thai Raksa Chart party, affiliated with the powerful Shinawatra political clan, announced the princess as their candidate on Friday.
The move looked to rattle the status quo and threaten the ambitions of the junta that has ruled Thailand since it toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra in a 2014 coup.
But the Thai king torpedoed the bid in a sharply worded statement the same day that said bringing senior royal family members into politics was against tradition, national culture and “highly inappropriate”.
Thai Raksa Chart responded swiftly, cancelling a campaign event yesterday and issuing a statement saying that it would respect “tradition and royal Customs.”
Thailand has some of the most severe lese majeste laws in the world and the king’s word was considered final.
Royalist Thais and celebrities praised the intervention on social media after the order, writing “long live the king”.
Analysts believe the events that unfolded over the past day would help the junta consolidate power and tilt the odds in favour of coup leader Prayuth Chan o Cha.
Prayuth is standing as premier for the Phalang Pracharat party, a group aligned with the regime.