A thorny affair which plunges the kingdom into uncertainty, on the eve of the vote to appoint the new head of government. The Thai electoral commission recommended, Wednesday, July 12, the suspension of the reformist deputy Pita Limjaroenrat, winner of the legislative elections of May and candidate to become prime minister, who risks trial before the Constitutional Court and disqualification.
The electoral commission has been investigating since the beginning of June the 42-year-old progressive candidate, leader of the Move Forward party, about shares in a television station he owned during the campaign. Thailand’s election code prohibits candidates from owning shares in news media. The parliamentarian, who risks prison, the loss of his parliamentary seat and ineligibility for twenty years, defends himself from any illegal maneuver.
The chairman of the electoral commission, Ittiporn Boonprakong, confirmed to Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that the body recommended suspending Pita Limjaroenrat, whose party won the legislative elections in May. Earlier, the electoral commission said in a statement that it was forwarding the findings of its investigation to the Constitutional Court. “The Electoral Commission (…) believes that the status of Pita Limjaroenrat should be considered for annulment and will submit the matter to the Constitutional Court for further consideration,” she announced. The Constitutional Court must now indicate whether it agrees to take up this case.
Move Forward denounced an “abuse of power” by the electoral commission. The decision of the body, which suspects him of irregularities, “without informing him of the charges and without giving him the opportunity to explain himself as provided for by the rules established by the electoral commission, constitutes an abuse of power under the penal code,” the party said in a statement.
Scathing setback to the military in power
Two months after his victory, Pita Limjaroenrat is uncertain of becoming the next prime minister, due to his legal troubles and the opposition of senators favorable to the army who appointed them.
Move Forward surprisingly delivered a stinging setback to the military in power for almost a decade, with an agenda that echoes the massive 2020 protests for more democracy. In the event of failure on Thursday, new rounds will be organized, with the hypothesis that a more consensual candidate emerges in place of the winner of the legislative elections.
Thailand, which has experienced a dozen successful coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932, regularly undergoes political crises, between interventions by the army and the justice system, and large popular demonstrations, sometimes interspersed with violence. The Constitutional Court is implicated in several of these episodes of tension, such as in 2014, when the Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was dismissed. Two weeks later, the army seized power following a coup.
The constitutional judges also dissolved, in 2020, Future Forward, the opposition party from which Move Forward took over. This controversial decision has pushed thousands of young demonstrators into the streets in favor of an in-depth reform of the monarchy.
