Thai election winner blocked from premiership

The winner of Thailand’s general election was suspended from parliament and his nomination for prime minister thrown out in a double blow to his candidacy on Wednesday.

Shortly before a vote on whether he would become prime minister, Thailand’s constitutional court suspended Pita Limjaroenrat for 15 days over an alleged shareholding in a television broadcaster. Senators then voted that he could not be nominated for the premiership.

The ruling and vote mark the latest escalations in an increasingly tense stand-off between the clear winners of May’s general election – Mr Pita and his Move Forward party – and a conservative establishment of generals, oligarchs and royal officials determined to keep him out of power.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Pita urged his fellow members to “take care of the people” and then, making a show of leaving his parliamentary ID behind, walked out of the assembly chamber to applause from his party.

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It was a crucial moment for the 42-year-old former businessman after unelected senators blocked his first bid for the premiership last week. On Wednesday they voted that Mr Pita could not be renominated. The assembly may now consider rival candidates, while \mr Pita’s supporters have threatened to take to the streets in protest.

Move Forward, regarded as a social democratic or centre-left force in Thai politics, won 151 out of 500 seats in May’s election. Its ally, the Pheu Thai party, took another 141 seats.

However, votes to become prime minister are held jointly with 250 senators appointed by the former military junta, so candidates need 376 votes to win. Last week, almost all of the senators either voted against Mr Pita or abstained, leaving him well short of the victory line.

The court case marks a further tactic to block Move Forward. “It’s clear under the current system that winning people’s trust is not enough to run the country,” said Mr Pita. “You have to ask the Senate first. And maybe even that is not enough to get my name nominated a second time.”

In a statement, the constitutional court said the facts before it “show reasonable suspicion” that Mr Pita owned shares in a media business and was therefore disqualified from sitting in parliament.

The case relates to allegations that Mr Pita owns 42,000 shares in iTV, a dormant TV station.

His defenders point out that his shareholding amounts to 0.000035 per cent of the company, that iTV has not broadcast since 2007 and that the shareholding was never raised previously when Mr Pita was a member of parliament.

Mr Pita has said he inherited the shares, that they have no economic value and he has now transferred them to a relative.

After Mr Pita’s disqualification, one option for the coalition parties is to propose a prime minister from Pheu Thai, but analysts said the establishment may block any government that includes Move Forward from taking office. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023