Pita defeated in Parliament in bid to become Thailand’s next PM

BANGKOK – The leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party

Pita Limjaroenrat

failed on Thursday to reach the needed majority to become the country’s next prime minister.

He was thwarted in a

high-stakes parliamentary vote

that included a host of no-shows and nearly 200 abstentions.

The leader of election winners Move Forward was unopposed in the contest, but struggled to muster the required support of more than half of the 749-member bicameral Parliament despite the backing of his eight-party alliance.

Mr Pita was 51 votes shy of the required threshold of 375.

He said he would not give up on his prime ministerial bid, adding that his party would restrategise to gather the required support to win the next vote.

“I am not giving up,” he told reporters, but added that he accepted the result of the first round of voting.

Another vote is expected to be held next week, which Mr Pita can contest if he is nominated again.

Mr Pita’s progressive Move Forward and its alliance partner Pheu Thai thrashed conservative pro-military parties in

the May 14 election

, seen widely as a resounding rejection of nearly a decade of government led or backed by the royalist military.

The young reformist was the sole candidate running for the top job.

Mr Pita’s alliance controls 312 seats in the newly elected 500-member House of Representatives.

But to get the required 375 votes, he had needed support from some of the 249 members of the conservative-leaning Upper House Senate, which was appointed by the military after a 2014 coup.

Thursday’s vote was a critical test of Mr Pita’s political clout and a gauge of the opposition to his party’s anti-establishment agenda, which includes removing the military from politics, curbing business monopolies and amending a law that prescribes long jail terms for insulting the monarchy.

His defeat was the latest blow in a torrid two days for the 42-year-old.

Mr Pita saw

legal challenges

against him gain momentum on the eve of the vote, including a recommendation to disqualify him, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to gather and warn of moves afoot to keep Move Forward from power.

The recommendation to disqualify him came from the Election Commission over allegations that he had broken campaign rules.

It followed a probe of Mr Pita’s ownership of shares in a media company, which is prohibited under Thai law.

Mr 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.

In Parliament on Thursday, he defended himself again, telling lawmakers: “I am fully qualified.”

But it was clear the allegations would colour the vote.

“The Parliament cannot accept Pita’s name for consideration because he is prohibited to become a minister,” conservative Senator Praphan Koonmee had told Parliament, referencing the commission’s decision.

Unclear path

Ahead of Thursday’s parliamentary vote, nearby highway overpasses had razor wire placed on them, while the Parliament’s compound was ringed by containers designed to deter demonstrators, a sign of the tensions around the event.

Only three years ago, massive pro-democracy protests erupted in Bangkok after a court dissolved Mr Pita’s Move Forward’s predecessor, the Future Forward Party.

“We Thais have the right to voice our opinions since we’re a democratic country,” said Move Forward supporter Patchaya Saelim, 17, outside Parliament ahead of the vote. “We can gather to protest.”

The path forward remains unclear, with the House Speaker yet to indicate if Mr Pita can try again to secure the necessary votes.

Mr Pita’s loss may also spell trouble for his coalition, which includes opposition runner-up Pheu Thai.

There has been speculation about whether the more established party might now back someone else for the top job.

Potential candidates include Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and the party’s Mr Srettha Thavisin, a business leader.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AFP