BANGKOK – The bitter battle to name Thailand’s next prime minister took a major turn Wednesday as Parliament voted to deny Pita Limjaroenrat, whose progressive Move Forward Party won a surprise victory in May’s election, a second chance to be confirmed for the post.
Pita had assembled a coalition of parties holding a majority in the House of Representatives. But his nomination for prime minister was defeated in a joint vote of the House and Senate last week, with conservative military-appointed senators mostly refusing their support.
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A joint session debated Wednesday whether Pita could be nominated for a second time, and House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha put the question to a vote. A motion to deny him a second chance was passed 395-312 with eight abstentions, dashing the hopes of Pita's millions of supporters. The speaker told reporters that the second round of voting was scheduled for July 27.
Thai politics experts said Pita’s fall was virtually preordained by the 2017 constitution, enacted under military rule and designed to undermine challenges to the established royalist order with measures such as giving the non-elected senators a role in confirming prime ministers. The charter’s specific target was the political machine of billionaire populist Thaksin Shinawatra, whom the army ousted in a 2006 coup, but the rules can be used against any threat.
“The 2017 constitution was designed to protect conservative interests in Thai politics, and what we are seeing is the Constitution in action. Pita’s fate, or that of any progressive movement, was largely sealed long before this election,” said Jacob Ricks, a political science professor at Singapore Management University.
It was the second blow suffered by Pita on Wednesday, after the Constitutional Court suspended him from Parliament pending its ruling on whether he violated the constitution by running for office while holding shares in a media company, a charge he has denied.
The court’s announcement would have still allowed Pita’s nomination and selection as prime minister. That is now ruled out by Parliament's action, and Pita remains in legal jeopardy, subject to a possible jail term if the court rules against him.
“The key issue here is that Thailand’s conservative establishment is unable to win power by competing in elections,” said Petra Alderman, a research fellow at England’s University of Birmingham and author of a book about the military's authoritarian politics. The junta that took power after a coup in 2014 “created a highly undemocratic political system that is designed to prevent the ‘wrong’ party -- in the eyes of the conservative establishment -- from taking power.”
“To cover all your grounds, you further empower unelected and highly unaccountable watchdog institutions -- namely the Election Commission and the Constitutional Court -- to make it easier for them to disqualify and/or ban popular politicians and dissolve popular political parties," Alderman said in an email interview.
Pita, during the debate on whether he could legally be renominated, said he would comply with the court’s order to step down from his parliamentary post.
“I think Thailand has changed, and will never be the same, since May 14,” said Pita, referring to his party’s election victory. “The people have won half the way. There’s another half left. Although I still won’t get to perform my duty, I’d like to ask all members to help take care of the people from now on.”
“Thank you very much,” he said before leaving the chamber to the applause of his supporters.
Pita’s chances of being named prime minister had already looked slim. He was rebuffed by all but 13 members of the appointed Senate, which along with the military and courts represents the country’s traditional conservative ruling class.
His party has pledged to amend a law that makes it illegal to defame Thailand’s royal family. Critics say the law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, is often abused as a political weapon.
Move Forward, whose agenda appealed greatly to younger voters, also seeks to reduce the influence of the military, which has staged more than a dozen coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and big business monopolies.
Pita had announced Monday that he would allow a candidate from another party in his coalition to try for the post of prime minister if he failed to attract substantially more votes on Wednesday. The media’s focus has already shifted to possible replacements for Pita as the nominee.
The candidate will come from the Pheu Thai party, which won 141 seats in the election, just 10 less than Move Forward’s 151.
In last week’s vote of the House and Senate, the eight-party coalition received 324 votes, well short of the necessary half of the combined chambers' 750 seats. With Pita's suspension and a senator's resignation, the number of votes needed to prevail was 374, according to House Speaker Wan Noor.
Pita was Move Forward’s only candidate, while Pheu Thai registered three names: real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin; Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a 2006 military coup; and Chaikasem Nitsiri, the party’s chief strategist.
Srettha, who has emerged as the favorite, entered active politics only last year and on Tuesday won Paetongtarn’s endorsement.
If a Pheu Thai candidate cannot win parliamentary approval, there will be pressure to assemble a new coalition, adding less liberal partners while dropping Move Forward because its position on royal reform is seen as the stumbling block to a compromise.
Move Forward has declared it has no interest in serving in a government with parties tainted by links to nine years of military-backed rule.
The prospect of Pita being denied the prime minister’s job has riled his supporters and pro-democracy activists, who called for demonstrations on Wednesday. About 600 gathered peacefully at Bangkok's Democracy Monument, a traditional protest venue, by Wednesday evening.