Ex-princess shocks country with bid for prime minister
Thailand has endured 12 successful military coups, several failed ones, massive street demonstrations and palace intrigue since its constitutional monarchy was established nearly a century ago.
It never have seen anything like this.
A 67-year-old former princess, the daughter of Thailand’s beloved late king, entered the race for prime minister Friday, upending next month’s elections and stunning a country where the monarchy is deified and has traditionally floated above politics.
Even more surprising was that Ubolratana Mahidol — a UCLA biostatistics graduate, actress, pop singer, philanthropist and Instagram celebrity — was nominated by a party allied with a fugitive ex-prime minister, whom hard-core supporters of the royal family revile as an enemy of the monarchy.
The shock announcement suggested the start of a rapprochement between the royal family and the exiled premier, populist billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose decade and a half rivalry has deeply divided the Southeast Asian kingdom.
The timing of a deal appeared right, too, with the ex-princess’ brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, due to be formally crowned as Thailand’s 10th monarch in May.
But hours after she declared her candidacy, the king issued a televised statement saying that his sister’s decision to enter politics was “extremely inappropriate” and violated the constitution.
Although she had given up her title, “having a high-ranking member of the royal family involved in politics, regardless of in what way, is against the royal ancient tradition … and national culture,” read the statement, aired just before 11 p.m.
It remained unclear Saturday morning whether Ubolratana, who surrendered her title decades ago but is still treated as royalty by Thais and the media, would stay in the race or heed the king’s wishes. Neither Ubolratana nor her party had any immediate comment.
“With this latest dramatic intervention, the king is signaling a split in the royal family, and once again overtly intervening in Thai politics,” tweeted Andrew Macgregor Marshall, the Scottish journalist formerly based in Bangkok who first reported Wednesday that the deal was in the works. “There are dangerous days ahead. Thailand is in uncharted political territory.”
Vajiralongkorn’s extraordinary rebuke led observers to wonder whether the princess and Thaksin’s party had failed to consult with the king on her candidacy — an almost unimaginable gaffe in Thai politics — or whether a deal with Thaksin had collapsed.
But for several feverish hours, the former princess’ decision redrew the political map of Thailand.
Khaosod, a news website, called the developments “undoubtedly the biggest bombshell in modern Thai political history.”
“I find it shocking,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Japan. “This definitely further complicates Thai politics. … I cannot imagine what the election is going to be like.”
Ubolratana, the elder sister of the current king, suddenly became the odds-on favorite in the March 24 election — billed as a restoration of democracy after five years of military rule. The army, however, widely has been seen as choreographing the election to install its favored candidate as prime minister.
The incumbent, former army chief Prayuth Chanocha, who also filed to run for prime minister Friday, has cast himself as a defender of the monarchy. But many Thais have chafed at Prayuth’s imperial style and aggregation of powers while economic growth stagnates.
In 2014, the army ousted an elected government led by Thaksin’s sister. The Shinawatra clan’s political machine has won every election Thailand has had this century, and his populist appeal was seen by some as a threat to the longstanding pillars of the Thai body politic — the army and the monarchy.
His rise has plunged the kingdom into a long tug of war between “yellow shirt” supporters of the establishment and Thaksin’s “red shirt” partisans.
The military carried out a 2006 coup to topple Thaksin, who fled the country to avoid criminal charges he says are politically motivated. He has run his party and several proxies from exile — including Thai Raksa Chart, the party that nominated Ubolratana — but is reportedly eager to return to Thailand to enjoy his fortune.
Close watchers of the Thai royal family had said King Vajiralongkorn — who assumed the throne when his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in 2016 after reigning for 70 years — would have had to sign off on his sister’s entry into politics.