By AFP
Published July 12, 2023
Move Forward Party leader and prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat addresses supporters during a rally in Bangkok on July 9, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary vote to elect Thailand’s next prime minister
Rose TROUP BUCHANAN
Thailand’s parliament will vote for a prime minister Thursday, with reformist frontrunner Pita Limjaroenrat reeling from a barrage of hurdles that could undo his bid for the premiership.
The coalition bloc led by Pita’s Move Forward Party (MFP) will face off against more established parties and junta-appointed senators, spooked by the progressives’ shock election victory in May and their determination to amend Thailand’s strict royal defamation laws.
On a day of high political drama Wednesday, Pita was hit with the threat of parliamentary suspension as well as the Constitutional Court’s acceptance of a case accusing him and his party of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.
Despite the MFP’s win at the polls, with Thais rejecting the government of General Prayut Chan-o-cha who seized power in a 2014 coup, the party’s chances of forming a government with Pita at its head look increasingly slim.
He faces resistance from a military-appointed, 250-member bloc in the senate because of his party’s push to reform section 112 of Thailand’s criminal code which bans defaming or insulting the royal family.
His plans to shake up the country’s powerful business monopolies have also sparked concern.
Despite the series of obstacles thrown in his way on Wednesday, Pita told reporters he was in “good spirits”.
He also said of Thursday’s parliamentary vote that “the process tomorrow continues as planned”.
Pita’s eight-party coalition, which includes runners-up Pheu Thai, has 312 seats but is short of the 376 needed across both houses of parliament to claim the prime ministership.
On Tuesday, now-caretaker PM Prayut — whose United Thai Nation party came a dismal fifth in the May elections — announced his retirement from politics, although he will remain as premier until a new prime minister emerges.
– Constitutional court cases –
On Wednesday, the Election Commission recommended Pita’s suspension from parliament over allegations he broke campaign rules — a move that the MFP branded as an “abuse of power”.
The recommendation followed a probe around Pita’s ownership of shares in a media company, prohibited under Thai law.
Pita has said he inherited the shares in the iTV television station, which has not broadcast since 2007, from his father and denies any wrongdoing.
The announcement could convince senators on the fence to vote against him, said analysts.
Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, assistant law professor at Thammasat University, told AFP it was hard to see why the commission was in “such a hurry” to issue its recommendation.
“I can think of only one reason, this action is to meant to affect the result of tomorrow’s vote,” he said on Wednesday.
Should Pita lose the first vote, the house speaker will table session after session until a PM emerges — raising the spectre of weeks of deadlock and economic uncertainty.
– ‘Anything is possible’ –
The kingdom has endured a dozen coups in the past century, with political instability a regular danger and progressive movements often abruptly curtailed.
May’s election was the first since huge pro-democracy demonstrations swept the capital Bangkok in 2020, when tens of thousands of people made unprecedented calls to reform the royal defamation laws.
Pita’s MFP was the only party during campaigning to promise to tackle the issue.
But in another upset for the MFP on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court accepted a case alleging that their promises on the campaign trail to amend the legislation amounted to attempting to “overthrow” the constitutional monarchy.
It gave the party two weeks to present their defence.
The uncertainty may bring already-existing divisions within the MFP-led coalition to the fore, as alternative PM candidates are suggested.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of exiled ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, was the face of Pheu Thai during the election campaign.
Business leader Srettha Thavisin of Pheu Thai is also seen as a potential alternative candidate.
Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst with Naresuan University, told AFP that it appeared less and less likely that Pita would become the premier.
But she added: “Anything is possible in Thailand.”
Thailand's Election Commission
says a reformist candidate for
prime minister may have broken
the law
Published: 12 Jul 2023 -
This photo taken on June 26, 2023 shows Thai flags fluttering in the wind as the backdrop of Bangkok skyline seen from the Wat Saket Buddhist temple. (Photo by Amaury PAUL / AFP)
AP
Bangkok: Thailand’s Election Commission said Wednesday it has concluded there is evidence that the top candidate to become the country’s next prime minister, a reformist with strong backing among progressive young voters, violated election law and referred his case to the Constitutional Court for a ruling.
The commission’s decision included a request that the court order Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat suspended as a member of Parliament until the ruling is issued.
The alleged violation involves undeclared ownership of media company shares, which are banned for lawmakers. Separately, the court also said it would review a complaint that Pita and his party may have violated the law by proposing to amend Thailand's strict legal provision against defaming the monarchy.
Thai media said the court would not make any ruling on Wednesday and that it might need some to consider the issues.
Pita can still be nominated on Thursday when Parliament meets to vote for a new prime minister. But the commission's move raises new doubts about whether he can muster enough votes to get the post, already a struggle because of Thailand's deep political divisions.
The Move Forward Party, with a progressive reformist platform, swept to a surprise first-place finish in May’s general election, capturing 151 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives and the most popular votes.
Move Forward has assembled an eight-party, 311-seat coalition with which it had planned to take power.
But Pita's path to power is difficult because he must win 376 votes of a joint session of the House and the conservative, 250-seat, non-elected Senate. The Senate largely represents Thailand's traditional ruling establishment, which suspects Move Forward's proposals for minor reforms of the monarchy endanger the royal institution, which they consider to be the center of Thais' national identity.
Pita's party responded to the Election Commission's decision by questioning its fairness and even its legality. It said its decision was unnecessarily hurried and violated its own procedures by failing to call Pita to give a statement.
The commission had earlier said it acted correctly but Move Forward alleges its members may have engaged in malfeasance, or carrying out duties in a wrongful manner, a crime punishable by 10 years imprisonment and a fine.
The election law complaint against Pita, lodged by a member of a rival party, alleges he ran for office in 2019 while failing to declare his shares in a media company.
The case the commission referred to the court accuses Pita of running for office with awareness that he was ineligible, a criminal violation punishable by maximum imprisonment of three years and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht ($1,720). The party faces a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($2,865).
Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, the government’s top legal advisor, has been quoted as saying that a ruling against Pita could be grounds for nullifying the May election results and holding a new election.
There have been fears since the election that Thailand’s conservative ruling establishment would use what its political opponents consider to be dirty tricks to hold on to power.
For a decade-and-a-half, it has repeatedly used the courts and supposedly independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue controversial rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.
The dissolution in 2019 of the Future Forward party, a forerunner of Move Forward, triggered vigorous street protests by pro-democracy activists that trailed off only when the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Hours after the Election Commission announced its referral of the shareholding case, the Constitutional Court said it had has accepted a separate petition against Move Forward and Pita concerning their campaign promise to amend Thailand's harsh lese majeste law,.
The law, also known as Article 112, mandates a three to 15 year prison term for defaming the king, his immediate family, or the regent.
Critics of the law say it is abused for political purposes, and Move Forward wants changes to rein in such abuses, which it claims actually do damage to the monarchy's reputation.
Royalists soundly reject all efforts to amend the law, and courts have sometimes treated such proposals themselves as tantamount to violating the law. The military and the courts consider themselves stalwart defenders of the monarchy, and the Senate members overwhelmingly share their viewpoint.
If the court agrees that the accused's actions constitute trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy -a separate provision from Article 112 - they will not be subject to punishment but can be ordered to cease all activities related to their proposed amendment, subject to prosecution if they continue.
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