BANGKOK: To form a new government that might completely transform the country if they were successful, opposition parties united in Thailand with the goal of stopping the military establishment from continuing in power.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the head of Thailand’s Move Forward Party, which took the most seats and the most votes overall in the election on Sunday, announced on Thursday that seven other parties have joined him in a coalition. Pita, a 42-year-old Harvard alumnus, described the coalition as “the voice of change and the voice of hope”, and claimed that all parties had agreed to support him in becoming the future prime minister of Thailand.
In the lower house, they garnered 313 votes collectively, according to Pita, who declared, “We definitely will be able to form a government.”
The eight parties include Move Forward, Thai Sang Thai, Pheu Thai, Prachachart, Pheu Thai Ruam Palang, Seri Ruam Thai, the Plung Sungkom Mai Party, and FAIR Party.
Party members of the new political coalition will now make a memorandum of understanding and will present it on May 22. Pita said that they were gathered to find mutual agreement keeping their differences aside.
Unofficial results showed in elections held on Sunday Move Forward won 151 seats with populist Pheu Thai securing second position with 141 seats – both far ahead of the party of incumbent Prime Minister, and 2014 coup leader, Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Only 36 seats were obtained by Prayut’s United Thai Nation Party, while the party Palang Pracharat, which is supported by the military and is led by a former army general named Prawit Wongsuwan, won 40.
The outcome severely blew the military-backed regime, which ruled for almost a decade following the coup. To choose a prime minister and create a government, the progressive alliance must now secure a majority of 376 seats in both houses of Thailand’s parliament.
That process will not start for at least 60 days, and there are still big obstacles to get over in a country where the military has ensured they still have a big voice in who may form a government. Despite the sweeping victory, the unelected 250-seat senate, picked exclusively by the military and has previously supported a pro-military candidate, stands in the way of the progressive camp’s success.
Despite the taboo surrounding any discussion of the royal family in Thailand, Move Forward has earned support among young Thais for its reformist platform, which includes ambitious pledges to modify the nation’s severe lese majeste laws.
The party wants to make fundamental adjustments to the military, such as eliminating the draught, cutting the budget, improving accountability, and lowering the number of generals. According to CNN, Pita said he would try to “demilitarise, demonopolize, and decentralize” Thailand on Tuesday.
According to him, the three-pronged strategy is the only way to democratize Thailand fully, ensure it is open for business again, is back in the global arena, and contribute to and profit from globalization.
