BANGKOK (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Thailand’s monarchy, usually off limits during parliamentary debates, became the centrepiece of discussion on a day when the legislature was meant to choose the future prime minister.
And so it was that the premiership bid by 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat (pic) floundered on Thursday (July 13), having fallen 51 votes short of the 375-vote minimum to secure his place.
Strong conservative forces within Thailand meant that Pita’s bid was always going to be a long shot, despite his party winning the May 14 general election.
But Thursday’s debate made it clear that the key thing standing between Thailand and the formation of its new government was disagreements about the monarchy.
Pita, the Harvard-educated leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP), leads an eight-party coalition, which wields a 312-seat majority in the 500-seat Lower House.
But an appointed 250-seat Senate – now one seat fewer after a last-minute resignation – formed a conservative bulwark against his ambitions.
During Thursday’s six-hour debate, the MFP legislators tried to focus attention on the looming governance issues facing a kingdom left adrift for too long after the May 14 election.
But senators and legislators from the caretaker coalition kept returning to the topic of the monarchy, alleging that the MFP was endangering the country by refusing to disavow its goal of amending the lese majeste law.
The controversial law penalises anyone who insults the King, Queen or heir apparent with a jail term of three to 15 years.
Critics argue that it is misused for political ends. Royalists liken any bid to amend it to an attempt to dismantle the monarchy.
Bhumjaithai Party legislator Chada Thaiseth on Thursday leaned on this slippery-slope argument, suggesting that amending the law would spark unrest, and at one point even mooted a law allowing people to shoot those who insult the monarchy.
Senator Somchai Sawaengkan alleged that the MFP was instigating the youth to go out on the streets to demand reform of the monarchy.
A memorandum of understanding inked by Pita’s eight-party coalition in May makes no mention of amending the lese majeste law and begins with the preamble: “All parties agree that every mission that the government will do must not affect the country’s status as a unitary state, the country’s status as a democracy under a constitutional monarchy framework and the inviolable status of the monarch.”
But it was not enough of a reassurance for mid-sized parties like Bhumjaithai and the Democrat Party, which wielded 96 votes between themselves. Under the withering glare of a vote by open roll call on Thursday, their legislators abstained.
Protecting the monarchy is also a convenient cover for groups benefiting from the old order, said Mahidol University political scientist Punchada Sirivunnabood.
The progressive MFP has pledged to reduce military influence, dismantle monopolies and also decentralise decision-making in the country.
“If Move Forward comes to power, it will change the power structures. This threatens not only the old elite and the military, but also the business and other sectors scared of change,” she told The Straits Times.
“And that’s why they try to get rid of not just Pita himself but the whole party.”
A second round of voting is scheduled for July 19, for which it is possible that Pita’s name could be put up for the premiership again. So far, no other party has put another name in the hat.
But Dr Punchada does not expect more senators to be swayed to Pita’s side during the second round. On the contrary, senators who supported him may come under strong pressure to change their stance.
Other dark clouds loom over Pita and the MFP. On Wednesday, the constitutional court accepted for consideration two cases.
The first, brought forward by the Election Commission, alleges that Pita is not eligible to be a legislator because of his ownership of media shares. The second alleges that the MFP is aiming to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state” through its efforts to amend the lese majeste law.
If Thai political history is any guide, a litany of legal perils await political parties sitting on the wrong side of Thailand’s conservative establishment.
Street protests have already begun, as an electorate behind the MFP’s upset election victory turns out to pressure legislators blocking its formation of a government. But Dr Titipol Phakdeewanich from Ubon Ratchathani University does not expect the demonstrations to gather enough momentum to pave the way for an MFP government.
Protests that drag on for too long would also hurt the MFP’s image, he added, given that it is the biggest party in the Lower House.
Amid this uncertainty, Thailand will have to wait longer to see a new government.
