The elections have been won by the progressive formation Move Forward (MFP). With another winner, they will try to oust the general who seized power in 2014
in the Buddhist kingdom Thailand Millions of people knew one thing very clearly ahead of Sunday’s elections: there was a historic opportunity to definitively break with the military regime that led the last coup in 2014. Opportunity to boost the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. a democratic and anti-militaristic resurgence led by a new generation of leaders who put Limitation of Privileges and Singularities Did Establishment There were realists who till now seemed untouchable.
have won the election pita limjaroenrat, 42-year-old businessman and leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP), a progressive formation and crisis of the military and monarchy. At the end of the recount, Pita assured that his party was on track to win at least 160 seats.
Second place was taken by the overwhelming favorite in all polls, the Phu Thai party of 36-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, scion of Thailand’s most famous political dynasty: she is the daughter of billionaire Self-exiled in Dubai and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup earlier in 2006, has sparked the ongoing political turmoil in Thailand.
The centre-left bloc will now seek to form a coalition to oust the current prime minister, nationalist Prayuth Chan-ocha (69), who overthrew another family politician in a 2014 coup. Shinawatra, Yingluck, aunt of the current candidate.
Prayuth is supported by the military and powerful royalty. His party, the conservative United Thai Nations (UTN), won the elections. But Prayuth could try despite election defeat secure a new mandate Thanks to the backdoor to power provided by the constitution drafted by the coup army itself, who devised an electoral system that facilitates the choice of the party best suited to their continued interests.
The 250-member Senate selected by the military, along with 500 members of parliament, is participating in a vote to name the prime minister, who must secure at least 376 votes, the support of more than half of the combined chambers. It is not yet clear whether the opposition will add up to the force needed to neutralize the power of the unelected Senate. In the last 2019 elections, it was precisely this Senate that helped elect Prayuth unanimously, betting on the general as the head of a 19-party coalition.
“If we move together, we will meet the challenges”
Crossing 80% of the vote, the MFP leader said his party’s impressive results would give him the ability to form a coalition government with Pheu Thai. “We have shown time and time again that if we go together, we can respond to all the challenges the country faces,” said Peeta, a Harvard-educated businessman. Young Voters’ Preferred Candidates who took to the streets of Bangkok in 2020 to stage a massive protest against the power and wealth of the eccentric King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
those mobilizations were led by student movements and challenged the institution considered untouchable and patronized by Prime Minister Prayuth. Today some of those protesters are in jail. Pita focused his entire election platform on major democratic reforms, starting with scrapping the military-draft constitution, abolishing conscription, or revising the strict lèse majeste laws, which are punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Punishes for insulting the king.
“Revising Thailand’s strict law is a priority,” said the leader of the Progressive Party, which has pledged to curb the king’s excesses and send troops covering Prayag and pulling many strings in the government’s barracks. But the radical reforms Pita is calling for also clash on some points with Patongtarn’s party, which is more conservative on monarchical matters. Like his father, Patongtorn has wooed voters by promising ambitious program to boost the economy Post pandemic shock, universal healthcare and debt relief for farmers.
During the campaign, Paetongtarn has been the great hero since Give birth to your son just two weeks before the election. He is a relative novice in politics, where he came just a year ago after holding various positions within his father’s telecommunications business empire, Thaksin, 73, disgraced by the military and with several open corruption cases, but by a section of the people Beloved, especially by the rural communities in the north who benefited from his poverty alleviation policies, and who await his return to Thailand.
Nearly 72% of the 52 million voters who voted at 95,000 polling stations this Sunday made their appointment, a higher turnout than previous elections. The vast majority of voters have bet on change, but the final result remains to be seen. It may take up to two months as the Govt. The official margin that exists to ratify them.
Even if the reformist camp ultimately wins, many fear the military will cling to power. It won’t be the first time. He has carried out two coups in less than 20 years. However, on this occasion, the Chief of Army Staff, General Narongpan Jitkwete, assured before the election that the results would be respected and that no new rebellions would be carried out by the military.
