Big setback for Thailand’s Pita as legal cases mount on eve of PM vote
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The commission said it found merit in a complaint alleging that Mr Pita Limjaroenrat was unqualified to run in the May 14 election because of his ownership of shares in a media company.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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BANGKOK - Thai prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat
Mr Pita’s supporters, many of whom are younger voters opposed to the royalist military’s involvement in politics, called for protests later on Wednesday, raising the possibility of another round of turmoil in two decades of fractious Thai politics.
The Constitutional Court said it had accepted a complaint filed by a lawyer against Mr Pita and his election-winning Move Forward Party his ownership of shares in a media company,
There was no immediate indication either development would prevent Mr Pita, 42, from contesting Thursday’s vote, where he faces a challenge to win the required backing of more than half of the legislature.
To gather enough support in Parliament to become prime minister it looks as if Mr Pita must win over conservative members of a Senate opposed to his party’s anti-establishment agenda, its most contentious element being amending Article 112 of the criminal code, which punishes insults directed towards the crown by up to 15 years in jail.
Mr Pita said the electoral commission’s recommendation that he be disqualified was unfair, and he questioned the timing.
“This is a bit rushed, one day before the PM vote; it shouldn’t have happened,” he told reporters.
In a television interview as the court announced the new case, Mr Pita stressed that his party’s proposal to amend Article 112 was not an attempt to undermine the monarchy.
Buoyed by massive support from young voters for its bold reform plans, Move Forward and another opposition party thumped rivals allied with the royalist army in the May election, in what was widely seen as an overwhelming public rejection of nine years of government led or backed by the military.
Move Forward beat the populist Pheu Thai party, which had been expected to win, by 10 seats and the two parties together hope to form a coalition government after Thursday’s vote.
The court cases are the latest twist in a turbulent, two-decade battle for power in Thailand that broadly pits conservatives allied with the military and influential old-money families against parties elected on populist or progressive platforms.
Leaders of a student-led protest movement that had called for a reform of Article 112 and held massive rallies against the outgoing military-backed government urged its supporters to take to the streets later on Wednesday in at least five cities, including Bangkok.
“There must be a retaliation to the effort to destroy democracy,” said protest leader Anon Nampa in a handwritten note posted on Twitter. “Whatever the conclusion, let all know that the fight has begun.”
Mr Pita, the United States-educated former executive of ride-hailing app Grab is backed by an eight-party alliance that controls 312 of the seats in the Lower House of Parliament. He is expected to run unopposed on Thursday but still needs 64 more votes, either from rival parties in the Lower House or the junta-appointed Senate, a challenge that could now be even more difficult.
In another setback, Democrat Party politician Chaichana Dechdecho told Reuters that the party’s 25 lawmakers would not back Mr Pita in Thursday’s vote because of his party’s plans to amend a strict law that prohibits insulting the monarchy.
Senator Jetn Sirathranon told Reuters that the commission’s recommendation that Mr Pita be disqualified would undermine support for him.
“A prime minister of Thailand has to be dignified and untarnished.” REUTERS
