Pro-democracy leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to gain enough votes to become Thailand’s 30th prime minister, as appointed senators refused to back him over a proposed reform of the controversial royal defamation law.
Only 324 lawmakers from the combined chambers of the National Assembly voted for Pita on the first ballot, 52 short of the majority he needed to become prime minister.
He has several days to try to persuade conservative rivals to back him, or convince some of the 199 abstentions to swing behind him when the vote is repeated on July 19.
“Today I’ve accepted (the vote) but I’m not giving up,” he told reporters. “I’ve accepted that I couldn’t reach the 376 … but we got 324 with 200 abstentions. I’m going to strategize again and consolidate the voice to make sure we reach 376.”
The vote means that two months after a surprise election victory for Pita's reformist Move Forward Party, Thailand still has no government or a prime minister — while court cases threaten Pita and his party with bans and dissolution.
Pita potentially has two more attempts -- the first being Wednesday – to hit the target.
Move Forward supporters massed outside parliament reacted with fury as the results emerged late Thursday, booing senators who had blocked Pita’s attempt to become prime minster.
As anger at the Senate swelled, they vowed to come back for the second round of voting next week.
“It’s a bad day for us and for democracy,” said Chinnapat Chatsri, who at 15 was too young to vote. “But there is one party in our hearts now the new generation loves this party. The old guard has to leave,” he said.
The vote threatens to provoke a fresh round of major protests from pro-democracy supporters who flooded Bangkok’s streets in 2020 and 2021 in massive rallies against the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Prayuth, a former army chief, seized power in a 2014 coup but did not leave office for another nine years.
Critics say his period in charge saw a collapse in freedoms and widening inequality as Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy stalled – even before the pandemic ripped into the country.
The army-aligned government enraged Thailand’s young, ultimately spurring the 14 million votes behind Pita’s party in the May election. The party had run on a reform message to tackle inequality, de-monopolize the country and, crucially to amend the royal defamation law.
That law carries three to 15 years in jail for anyone convicted of defaming the monarchy, headed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Reform of the law - known as "112" after its section in the Thai criminal code - was deeply divisive, with senators and conservative lawmakers coming out before the vote to say they could not back a Move Forward government intent on amending the law.
“We’re still here today because the monarchy is protecting us.” Chada Thaised, a parliamentary member for the conservative Bhumjaithai party said ahead of the vote, in a speech which quickly went viral on TikTok.
“If amending 112 is your mission … then thwarting you every way we can is our mission,” he said.
“I may even ask for lawmakers to make a new law to allow those who insult the monarchy be shot,” he said.
With divisions raw and seemingly intractable - especially over the 112 law reform – experts fear the kingdom could tip towards a new period of prolonged instability.
The next vote may also cause fissures in the coalition which Pita has stitched together, experts say, unless he emerges as the winner.
Pheu Thai, the second biggest party in the National Assembly, may push to have one of its own candidates run for prime minister if Pita repeatedly fails to gather enough votes.
