Thailand’s parliament has blocked the second vote for the election of Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister, the leader of the Thai opposition who had won the elections in May: in Thailand, after the elections, the prime minister must be voted by the House and Senate in joint session. The first parliamentary vote was held on July 13 and the candidacy of Pita (as he is called by both Thais and the media) was rejected. A second vote was scheduled for today which did not even take place: out of 715 members present, 394 voted to block his second candidacy, while 312 expressed their favour.
Pita has the support of a clear majority in the House but very few senators, because Thailand’s current constitution provides that the Senate is de facto appointed by the military junta that governs the country. Also in the vote of 13 July the vote of the senators had been decisive in preventing Pita from becoming prime minister. Pita’s opponents in parliament argued that he shouldn’t have the chance for a second ballot because he had already failed in the previous one.
In the May elections, Pita’s party, the Kao Klai, reformist and in opposition to the military junta in power, had received the most votes with 38 percent of the votes: however, there were many doubts as to whether the military junta would have allowed Pita to become head of government. Kao Klai’s electoral program was based on the need to make political and economic reforms to reduce the gross inequalities present in Thailand. He aimed to reform the army, but also the strict laws that prevent criticism of the Thai monarchy, which provide for sentences of up to 15 years in prison: it is one of the most controversial points in Kao Klai’s programme.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court temporarily suspended Pita from parliament on Wednesday morning, just hours after the second parliamentary vote on his candidacy for prime minister. The suspension occurred because he is accused of owning shares in a television network, which is contrary to electoral regulations: so far Pita has defended himself by saying that that network has not broadcast since 2007, that he inherited his shares from his father and then sold them to relatives.
Despite the suspension, in theory Pita could still be chosen as head of government, given that in Thailand the prime minister may not be a member of parliament, but had had to physically leave the chamber, in which he was elected in the last elections. The court has yet to decide whether to cancel the suspension or remove Pita from the polling station if he is found guilty.
After the first vote, Pita said that if he did not become prime minister, he would not accept the candidacy of another member of his coalition even with the second vote: after the election, in fact, he had built a broad coalition together with the second most voted party, the Pheu Thai, centre-right and less hostile towards the establishment. However, it is considered probable that Pheu Thai himself decides to withdraw from the coalition and propose his own candidate, aware that deputies and senators close to the military junta would be more inclined to support their party: in this case Pita’s Kao Klai would become the main party of opposition, even if it is not yet known whether Pita himself will be part of parliament or not.
– Read also: Will Thailand be led by a reformer?