general elections
Thailand: Election winner Pita suspended as MP
Pita Limjaroenrat in Parliament in Bangkok. photo
© Sakchai Lalit/AP
The progressive election winner Pita Limjaroenrat wants to be elected head of government. Even before the vote, the Constitutional Court made an explosive decision. What now?
The Thai election winner Pita Limjaroenrat is from Constitutional Court in Bangkok provisionally suspended as a member of parliament. The court granted a corresponding request from the election commission, according to a statement. The decision was announced just as Parliament was debating the forthcoming second vote on Pita as future head of government.
The background is investigations into alleged shares in a media company that the 42-year-old is said to have owned during his candidacy. This is forbidden in Thailand. According to him, the media company in question, whose shares come from his father’s estate, has long been closed. After the announcement of the decision, angry supporters of Pita gathered in front of Parliament and protested loudly.
Pita’s progressive Move Forward Party clearly won the general election in May. According to media reports, despite being suspended as a member of parliament, he could still be elected prime minister. But it is becoming more and more questionable whether he will get the necessary majority of votes – as a candidate not affiliated with the army in the face of a military-dominated Senate, which is also pending a trial at the Constitutional Court.
Senators appointed by the military must agree
Pita actually wants to try to be elected prime minister for the second time today. He failed in the first vote last week, although his coalition of eight parties has a stable majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
The reason is a special feature of the constitution: in addition to the 500 elected MPs, 250 senators appointed by the military also vote on the head of government. These are considered conservative, only very few support progressive forces.
According to media reports and political observers, some senators now even want to prevent Pita from running again at all. They argue that a candidate can only stand for election once. In the morning (local time) it was therefore not yet clear whether there would actually be a vote during the day.
Insult to Majesty in focus
The sticking point for many conservatives is the plan by Pita’s progressive party Move Forward Party to change the controversial Lèse Majesté law. Thailand’s lèse-majesté law is harder than almost any other country. So far, however, Article 112 has been considered untouchable. Many senators refuse to vote for Pita because of his reform plans.
If the Harvard graduate fails again in parliament, a third vote is basically planned for tomorrow. In this case, Pita’s most important coalition partner – the Pheu Thai party – is likely to nominate a candidate. The Move Forward Party won the most votes in May’s general election and has 151 seats in the House of Representatives. Second-placed Pheu Thai has 141 seats.
According to a report in the Bangkok Post newspaper, Pheu Thai could also turn its back on Pita entirely and form a new coalition with established parties that have been in power up to now. “We can’t win everything, but in that case we wouldn’t lose everything either,” the newspaper quoted a party source as saying.