Government
Thailand’s parliament elects Srettha as the new prime minister
Real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai party won the majority of votes in both chambers of the national parliament. photo
© Wason Wanichakorn/AP/dpa
The Kingdom of Thailand has a new government after months of political wrangling. Critics speak of betrayal of election results.
Three months after the parliamentary elections in Property magnate Srettha Thavisin has been elected Prime Minister of Thailand. The 60-year-old from the Pheu Thai party won the majority of votes in both chambers of the national parliament, the House of Representatives and the military-appointed Senate on Tuesday. Sretta was the only candidate.
Srettha’s election ends months of political and legal wrangling that has weighed on the Asian kingdom’s economy since May’s general election.
To gain power, Pheu Thai had broken away from Pita Limjaroenrat’s progressive Move Forward Party (MFP). The surprise winner of the parliamentary elections and hope of the democracy movement had previously been repeatedly rejected by conservative senators as a candidate for the prime minister. The reason for this was Pitas MFP’s plan to change the extremely strict lèse-majesté law.
alliance with the former adversary
As a result, Pheu Thai, which came second in the general election, booted out of Pita’s party and instead formed an alliance with the conservatives it had fought in the election campaign. Critics also describe Srettha’s new government as a betrayal of the election results. Pheu Thai, on the other hand, defended her tactical maneuver as necessary to end the country’s political deadlock and bring about reconciliation. Pita’s MFP, now in opposition despite winning the election, did not support Pheu Thai in electing Srettha as prime minister.
Srettha succeeds Prayuth Chan-ocha. The former general had been in power since 2014, when he overthrew the previous Pheu Thai government in a coup.
US-educated Srettha is Thailand’s 30th leader and the first in nearly a decade not to have a military background. He is not an elected Member of Parliament. However, Thailand’s constitution also allows non-parliamentarians to become prime ministers. Srettha now leads an 11-party coalition alliance that includes two pro-military parties, the Palang Pracharath and the United Thai Nation – which political observers say suggests the military may still have some influence over the new government could have.
According to observers, the priority for Srettha should initially be keeping a number of economic promises to the base of his Pheu Thai party. “Inequality is the main reason why I decided to go from businessman to politician,” he said in an interview with Japan’s business daily Nikkei Asia in April. He is a confidant of former Pheu Thai premier and founders Thaksin Shinawatra and Yingluck Shinawatra.
Return after 15 years of exile
Thaksin Shinawatra returned to his homeland this morning (local time) after 15 years in exile. He was taken to the Supreme Court as soon as he arrived, which upheld a sentence he had been sentenced to in three corruption cases while he was away. Thaksin was immediately taken to prison, where he served an eight-year sentence. However, political observers doubt that the now 74-year-old billionaire will spend much time behind bars. In Thailand, convicts over the age of 70 can apply for parole or a royal pardon.
Thaksin, who made his fortune in the telecoms industry, was elected prime minister in 2001. He was overthrown in a military coup in 2006. He was accused of corruption and abuse of power, as well as disrespect for the monarchy. In 2008 he fled the country into exile to avoid prison.
The prime minister’s vote, originally scheduled for August 4, was postponed because the country’s constitutional court first wanted to review whether MFP’s Pita could stand for a second time in the prime minister’s election. This had been denied to him by Parliament. It failed in a first vote in July. In the end, however, the court rejected a petition regarding Pita’s renewed candidacy, paving the way for Srettha’s election.