Pita Limjaroenrat fails in his first attempt to be elected prime minister

2023-07-14 12:33:44
The leader of Move Forward, Pita Limjaroenrat, after the negative vote of the Thai Parliament, on July 13, in Bangkok. LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

The reformist Pita Limjaroenrat, candidate of the coalition which won the Thai elections on May 14, was unable to muster enough votes on Thursday July 13 to be elected Prime Minister by the 500 deputies and 250 senators. He is now counting on a second vote in Parliament, Wednesday July 19, to gain access to the head of government, after his initial failure. The senators, appointed in 2017 by the generals who organized the 2014 coup, stood in the way of the reform camp embodied by “Pita” and his allies: only thirteen senators gave him their support, while he would have needed 51 more votes to achieve a majority in both chambers. Out of 249 senators in office, a senator who resigned on Wednesday, 159 abstained, thirty were absent, the others having voted against.

“There were pressures and incentives. They were not allowed to vote in agreement with the peoplesaid the candidate Thursday, leaving the Thai Parliament, less smiling than usual. I accept the result, but I don’t give up. » With an absolute majority in the lower house, the winning coalition, which brings together Pita’s party, Move Forward (“move forward”) and the political formation linked to the former prime minister in exile Thaksin Shinawatra, the Pheu Thai (“for the Thais”), along with six other small parties, should again try to present its leader to the Congress vote in the middle of next week.

A rally had been authorized near Parliament, in a square, where several thousand Pita supporters had gathered, mostly from the working classes, wearing caps, T-shirts or orange umbrellas, the color of the Move Forward, to follow the vote count on a giant screen. “It’s really disappointing. We can’t let that happen. Our victory has been stolen. [“Pita”] is our Prime Minister”, says a woman in her fifties nicknamed “Aem”, who unrolled in front of her portraits of her candidate, in his forties with the appearance of a young first and with impeccable English – he is a Harvard graduate -, who conquered part of the opinion by his clear and frank approach to the problems facing the kingdom. Like others, however, she expected this result. Several of these supporters from the provinces are former “red shirts”, the color of the supporters of the Thaksin clan, which displays, for the moment, unfailing support for its coalition partner.

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