Thailand’s Old Guard Blocks Young Democracy Icon’s Bid to Become Prime Minister

Thailand’s army-appointed senate blocked a political youth icon whose party won a stunning victory in national elections from taking power as prime minister, effectively preventing the country from returning firmly to the democratic fold after nearly a decade of military-backed rule.

Pita Limjaroenrat, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate, caught the imagination of Thailand’s young voters in polls that took place in May by taking on two of the nation’s most powerful institutions, the army and the monarchy. His party, Move Forward, campaigned on sweeping promises to dislodge the generals from government and amend a controversial law that criminalizes insults to the royal family.

It won the largest number of seats and shored up a coalition commanding a majority of the elected parliament, making the progressive politician the front-runner to take the reins of a U.S. ally in a region where democracy is in decline and China’s influence is rising. But on Thursday, Pita fell short of the supermajority required to win the premiership.

Thailand’s political system, engineered by a military junta that seized power in a 2014 coup, sets a very high threshold for prime ministerial candidates who aren’t backed by the army. A successful candidate must secure support from more than half of the bicameral parliament made up of a 500-member elected lower house and a 250-member senate handpicked by the army. With one seat vacant, that means Pita would need 375 votes.

On Thursday, only 13 senators voted for Pita. With a total of 323 votes in his favor, according to his party, the senate effectively vetoed his bid.

Move Forward had cast the vote as a test of the country’s democracy. “If the prime minister isn’t the people’s choice, what do we even conduct an election for?” said its secretary-general, Chaitawat Tulathon, ahead of the vote.

The result set the stage for a potentially protracted showdown between the conservative establishment and the popular youth-led progressive movement Pita represents. A second and possibly third round of voting is expected next week, but it is unclear how lawmakers plan to resolve the impasse.

Some political analysts say two unsuccessful rounds of voting could ultimately lead to a compromise candidate, though Move Forward and its coalition partners have so far stood firm on their choice of Pita as prime minister.

Many of Pita’s supporters are unlikely to accept another candidate, and have pledged to protest any attempt to block him from becoming leader. He is popular among a well-educated, social-media-savvy generation fed up with the political turmoil that defined their youth.

Pita faces other challenges outside of parliament. On Wednesday, the country’s top court said it had accepted two complaints that threaten to disqualify him from public office and dissolve his party. One complaint, filed by a political activist who opposes his party, alleges Pita owned shares in a media company, rendering him ineligible for office.

The other, filed by a lawyer, accuses Pita and his party of attempting to overthrow the government—a constitutional monarchy—by pledging to amend the lèse-majesté law that makes royal defamation a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

“It’s all part of the plan to bring him down and stop him from becoming prime minister,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich,

Pita’s supporters see the legal cases as a last-ditch effort by the royalist-military establishment to neutralize its biggest challenger. To them, the recent developments echo events that occurred after the last nationwide elections held in 2019, when a new pro-democracy party gained popularity among young opponents of the military and won a large block of seats.

The party, Future Forward, was quickly dissolved by a 2020 court decision that said it violated campaign finance rules. Its leader was kicked out of parliament in a separate case alleging he unlawfully held shares in a media company—similar to one of the cases that now threaten Pita.

Future Forward and its erstwhile leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit,

Move Forward emerged as Future Forward’s successor, absorbing its growing support base. More than 14 million people voted for the party in the May election, after it campaigned on a progressive platform to uplift a stagnant economy and dislodge the army and palace from politics. It pledged to raise the minimum wage, end mandatory conscription, slash the military budget, amend the lèse-majesté law and create oversight of royal spending.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pita said the party was aware of the case related to lèse-majesté and will submit its defense to the court. Move Forward has vowed to add safeguards against the abuse of the lèse-majesté provision, which human-rights advocates say is vague.

The law has been used against hundreds of people since youth protests erupted in 2020, according to the nonprofit Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

Pita has previously cast the other case, in which the court will rule on his eligibility, as a baseless attempt to block him. Pita said the shares in question were part of his late father’s estate, which he inherited as executor but hadn’t sold before the election because they were essentially worthless. The firm stopped operating in 2007 and was delisted from Thailand’s stock exchange in 2014, according to company documents. Pita has said the shares were fully disclosed to regulators and he divested them after the election to avoid further complications.

Pita and his party have 15 days to respond to the allegations, after which the court could move quickly to issue its decisions.

Thailand’s wealthy monarchy is the country’s most powerful institution and it has long had a close relationship with the armed forces. While the role of the palace is officially apolitical, the king acts as head of state and wields enormous influence, often acting as a mediator in times of political turmoil. Thailand’s military has staged more than a dozen coups over the past century, each time endorsed by the palace.

The royalist-military establishment has a well-established playbook for keeping challenges at bay. For decades, its main rival was a populist movement led by the billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was elected as prime minister in 2001, ousted in a coup in 2006 and his party disbanded. His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was elected under a new iteration of the party in 2011 and was ousted in the lead-up to the 2014 coup.

Both Thaksin and Yingluck are in exile, and Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra is now the standard-bearer for his populist movement.

“I think it’s deliberate that these charges against Pita were brought up just in time for the vote,” said Petechara Laoboonchai, a 27-year-old law student who supports Move Forward. “I don’t think Thai people will tolerate another attempt to take democracy away from them.”

Write to Feliz Solomon at [email protected]