Although he won the election, Mr. Pita is facing many difficulties in the race for the position of Prime Minister of Thailand for the following reasons.
Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat (in white) parades among supporters in Bangkok after winning the most seats in the House of Representatives on May 15. Photo: AFP
Preliminary figures compiled by the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) after the May 14 general election show that Pita Limjaroenrat's Move Forward Party, which was founded in 2020, is leading with 152 seats in the House of Representatives, 11 more than the Pheu Thai Party, which is closely linked to the Shinawatra political family. The Bhumjaitai Party ranked third in the general election. The United Thai Nation Party of incumbent Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha ranked fifth.
If the Move Forward and Pheu Thai parties join hands, they will have a great chance to form a ruling coalition. For his part, Mr. Pita Limjaroenrat said he is ready to form a coalition with Pheu Thai, but still aims to become prime minister.
Meanwhile, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin and one of the three candidates for prime minister of the Pheu Thai Party, said it was too early for the parties to discuss the possibility of joining hands to form a coalition government. Paetongtarn Shinawatra stated her opinion: "We are ready to talk to Move Forward. However, Ms. Paetongtarn Shinawatra also admitted that the party with the most votes should retain the right to lead the country.
With the above results, in theory, Mr. Pita can easily be elected as Prime Minister of Thailand. However, in reality, the race for the position of Prime Minister of Thailand is not easy.
Article 85 of the Thai Constitution stipulates that the EC must announce the official election results within 60 days from the election date (before July 14). Accordingly, the Thai National Assembly will convene in July, in which the 500 newly elected members of the House of Representatives will join 250 senators appointed by the military government to select a new prime minister and form a government.
Each party that wants to nominate a prime minister needs at least 25 seats in the House of Representatives. The new Thai prime minister will need at least 376 votes in both houses.
However, the 250 senators appointed by the junta are likely to vote for a military-friendly candidate. Even if Move Forward and Pheu Thai join forces, they will only secure 292 votes for their joint prime minister candidate.
This means that parties with more modest numbers of votes like Bhumjaitai could play a decisive role in Thai politics in the coming weeks.
To secure victory, Move Forward will have to negotiate with Pheu Thai about the possibility of forming a ruling coalition, while also hoping to convince some pro-military senators to switch their support.
Pheu Thai had a bitter run in the 2019 election. They won the most seats in the House of Representatives but failed to form a government. Prayuth, the former army chief who staged a coup in 2014, was eventually elected prime minister after negotiating a 19-party coalition led by the military-backed Palang Pracharath Party.
In a related move, two Thai senators have announced that they will not support Pita Limjaroenrat, the winning candidate in the general election, due to his attitude towards the monarchy. Accordingly, during the election period, the Move Forward Party and Mr. Pita announced their intention to abolish Article 112 of the penal code, which stipulates that those who commit lese majeste for “defaming, insulting or threatening the king, queen, heir apparent, or regent” will be imprisoned for 3 to 15 years. Senator Jadet said that this move “will discredit the monarchy and is unacceptable.”
From the above factors, it can be seen that Mr. Pita's race for the position of Prime Minister of Thailand is still full of thorns.
HN synthesis
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