The leader of the reformist Move Forward party, Pita Limjaroenrat, assured this Monday that he was “prepared to be the next prime minister”, after being the most voted in the general elections of Thailand last Sunday.
The businessman claimed victory, saying he intended to form a coalition with the other major pro-democracy opposition party, Pheu Thai, to succeed the current military-backed government.
“I am Pita Limjaroenrat, the next prime minister of Thailand,” the 42-year-old candidate told a news conference in the capital, Bangkok.
“We are ready to form a government,” insisted the reformist, who promised to be “a prime minister for all.”
Limjaroenrat said he had already started talks with Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai, the daughter of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to form a six-party coalition that would bring together “309” of 500 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Move Forward, the self-proclaimed voice of the younger generation, garnered more than 14 million votes, ahead of Pheu Thai (10.8 million), inflicting a severe defeat on the military-backed United Thai Nation party.
Pheu Thai recognized that the winner of the election has the right to lead the government, paving the way for Limjaorenrat to become the country’s next head of government.
“The voices of the people are the most important and we respect the decisions of the people. The winning party will have the right to nominate the candidate for prime minister,” Paetongtarn Shinawatra said.
In the early hours of the morning, former general and current prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, whose party won 4.5 million votes, declared that he would respect democracy and the result of the vote.
The election was marked by a record turnout of more than 75%, in a context of weak economic growth and a decline in fundamental freedoms since Prayut Chan-O-Cha came to power after a coup in 2014, and later legitimized in 2019 due to controversial elections.
These elections are the first since the great protests of 2020 that demanded a reform of the monarchy and that exposed the existing fractures in the kingdom, between the younger generations who want changes and the elites linked to the king and the military.
The election for prime minister involves the 500 lower house deputies elected at the polls and 250 senators elected by the former military junta (2014-2019), which complicates the formation of a government.
The country has suffered more than a dozen coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the last one in 2014, under the command of Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Source: TSF
