Thai election officials yesterday asked the country’s top court to suspend Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat, the front-runner in the race to become prime minister, over allegations he broke campaign rules as a lawmaker.
The recommendation is the latest hurdle thrown into the path of the progressive candidate, whose MFP scored the most votes in May’s election by tapping into Thais’ appetite for change.
The Thai Election Commission’s referral to the Thai Constitutional Court was announced just a day before parliament was due to vote on a new prime minister.
Photo: AFP
While popular among voters, Pita’s bid to be prime minister faces stiff opposition over his plans to amend Thailand’s royal defamation laws, which protect King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his family.
Pita’s supporters, many of them younger voters opposed to the royalist military’s involvement in politics, called for protests later yesterday, raising the possibility of another round of turmoil in two decades of fractious Thai politics.
Following the commission’s announcement, MFP secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon said the party still wanted the vote to go ahead.
“Tomorrow is a day of crossroads to see if we will continue to disregard the people’s politics, or ... return to normal democracy and move Thailand forward,” he said. “I believe people will not accept it any more.”
Pita told reporters at parliament after the announcement that he was in “good spirits,” adding that “the process tomorrow continues as planned.”
Yet he was struck by a fresh hurdle later yesterday afternoon when the Constitutional Court accepted a separate case centered on the promise of royal defamation law reform.
The court was asked to “consider whether the actions of [Pita and the MFP] ... who have proposed the amendment of 112 in their political campaign, are using their right and freedom to overthrow the constitutional monarchy,” referring to the number of the criminal code article that deals with lese majeste.
The commission’s investigation into Pita centered on his ownership of shares in a now-defunct media company. Legislators are not allowed to own media shares.
“The Election Commission has considered the issue ... and perceives that the status of Pita Limjaroenrat is considered to be voided, according to the Thai Constitution,” the commission said in a statement yesterday.
Even if the constitutional court suspends Pita as a lawmaker, he can still stand for prime minister in the vote today, but if he were to face a criminal investigation, he could be barred from politics or face up to 10 years in prison.
Pita says he inherited the shares in the iTV television station, which has not broadcast since 2007, from his father, and has denied any wrongdoing.
Additional reporting by Reuters
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS