In Thailand, the reformist Pita Limjaroenrat, known as “Pita”, winner of the legislative elections of May 14, lost, Thursday, July 13, the vote in Parliament to become prime minister: senators loyal to the army rejected his candidacy, judged too radical, despite the risk of further protests, in a fractured kingdom.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, embroiled in a series of political crises, is going through a period of instability, two months after the election that dealt a bitter setback to the generals in power since the 2014 coup.
Winner of the legislative elections under the banner of the Move Forward party, Pita clashes with the system controlled by the conservative royalist elites, who blame him for his legal troubles and his project to revise the law on the crime of lèse. -majesty. The defeat of the progressive candidate, the face of political renewal, revives the scenario of massive demonstrations around Parliament, protected by an important security device.
Despite the support of a majority coalition in the Lower House (312 deputies out of 500), Pita did not obtain the 60 votes of senators he needed to reach the required threshold of 375 votes. While the ballot was underway, more than half of the participants chose to vote against or abstain, according to a count by Agence France-Presse, leaving no chance for Pita, the only declared candidate for the moment. .
“I will not give up,” responded the deputy, promising a new strategy to convince the senators, appointed by the army, who oppose his appointment. “This is not a vote on me or Move Forward, but a vote to give Thailand a chance to return to normality,” he pleaded before the vote opened.
Accused of wanting to “overthrow” the monarchy
Telegenic, smiling, at ease in English, Pita, 42, personifies the break desired by young people, who had taken to the streets by the thousands in 2020 to demand a major overhaul of the monarchy. New Constitution, abolition of compulsory military service, legalization of marriage for all… Its renovation program aims to turn the page of almost a decade under the authority of former putschist general Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who saw fundamental freedoms shrink and the economy stagnate.
But this activity has exposed Move Forward and its leader to legal action. Those concerned believe that these are aimed at diverting them from power.
Pita is charged in two separate cases, which pose the threat of disqualification. The president of the electoral commission advocated a suspension from his parliamentary duties, due to shares he owned in a television channel at the time of the campaign. The deputy, who defends himself from any illegal maneuver, risks the loss of his seat, a prison sentence and banishment from political life for twenty years.
In another case, the Constitutional Court has declared admissible the complaint of a lawyer who accuses Pita and Move Forward of wanting to “overthrow” the monarchy.
The question of the king’s place in society occupied the discussions in the hemicycle, around the controversial law repressing the crime of lèse-majesté. Move Forward defends, alone, a reform of the text, whose vague wording leaving room for interpretation has been hijacked for political purposes to silence any protest, according to rights groups. The conservative camp refuses any modification of this symbol, in the name of the untouchable status of the king, considered as a quasi-divinity.
Deputies and senators will meet as many times as necessary, with the possibility that a candidate deemed more consensual, from another party, wins the post.
The powerful opposition movement Pheu Thai, which came second in the legislative elections and which rallied to Move Forward, has the opportunity to present one of its leaders: Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of the former prime minister in exile Thaksin Shinawatra, the pet peeve of the army; or businessman Srettha Thavisin.
