No chance for the post of prime minister: Thailand’s parliament has denied the pro-democracy winner Pita a renewed candidacy as head of government. He had already failed in a first round of voting.
The reformist winner of Thailand’s general election, Pita Limjaroenrat, is barred from running again as the country’s prime minister. Several senators had demanded in the morning not to let the 42-year-old compete a second time after his defeat in the first vote last week. They argued that this contradicted the rules of Parliament.
The Chamber of Deputies and Senate voted 394 to 312 to grant the request. Actually, the politician should have faced a second round of voting in the morning.
election clearly won in May
Pita’s opposition Move Forward Party (MFP) won the parliamentary elections in May. In a first vote on the post of head of government in parliament last week, however, the previous opposition leader did not receive the necessary votes.
With a coalition of eight parties, he has a stable majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The head of government in Thailand is not only elected by the 500 elected MPs, but also by 250 senators appointed by the military. The army passed this constitutional clause after its coup in 2014. The senators are considered conservative, only a few support progressive forces.
Unclear progress of the election
The constitutional court had previously ordered Pita’s parliamentary mandate to be suspended due to allegations of electoral violations. The background to this was investigations into alleged shares in a media company that the 42-year-old is said to have owned during his candidacy for Prime Minister. This is forbidden in Thailand.
It is unclear what will happen next. It was not initially known whether an election round planned for Thursday should take place with another top candidate. Demonstrators have gathered at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, known for previous mass protests. According to observers, they spoke of “political sabotage”.