Slowly but surely: Pita (in white) waving to his supporters. — AP
For a man who could be disqualified as an MP in a month, Pita Limjaroenrat looks relaxed. The former leader of Thailand’s Move Forward Party (MFP) sees himself as a mere cog in the machinery turning the wheels of political change.
“Parties should die because people don’t vote for them” and not because of judicial systems, he said, but the reality in Thailand has been otherwise.
Pita, 43, led MFP to emerge as the biggest winner of the May 14 general election, clinching 151 out of 500 seats in the Lower House.
But he could not muster enough votes in the 750-seat Parliament to secure his premiership, largely due to opposition from appointed senators. He stepped down as MFP leader to become its adviser in September after he was suspended from his MP duties by the Constitutional Court over a complaint about his alleged shareholding in a media company.
Thai election laws bar those owning media businesses from running for Parliament.
The company in question, iTV, ran a television station that lost its broadcast concession in 2007. Pita has argued that iTV is not an active media organisation.
The court will give its verdict on Jan 24, 2024. If found guilty, he could be disqualified as an MP.
Pita fully intends to stay in politics even if the judgment goes against him, saying, “There’s a lot that I could do even outside Parliament. I might not be able to vote, I might not be able to speak in Parliament, but I could really change the sentiment of the country or bring some transparency to issues that nobody cared about.
“But if you were to ask me, definitely, I want to be able to return to Parliament and do my job over there.” — The Straits Times/ANN
