Thailand just chose a prime minister. He’s not the one people voted for

[webfact]

Pheu Thai's prime ministerial candidate, Srettha Thavisin, greets party members during a meeting at its headquarters in Bangkok on Monday, ahead of his nomination as premier in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

BANGKOK — Thailand has selected a new prime minister. He’s not from the party people voted for in May.

 

Led by an 11-party coalition, lawmakers agreed Tuesday afternoon to appoint Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai party as Thailand’s next prime minister, ending months of turbulent negotiations that have alienated the reformist, youth-oriented party, Move Forward, which was blocked from forming a government despite clinching a stunning victory at the polls.

 

Srettha, 60, a real estate tycoon turned political newcomer, received the support of more than 400 legislators, and has said he will focus on stimulating Thailand’s lagging economy. On Monday, he told reporters it was “necessary," given the country’s protracted political deadlock, for people to move past the party’s earlier promises not to cooperate with military leaders.

While the election was widely regarded as a rebuke of the conservative military establishment that has governed Southeast Asia’s second largest economy for the past decade, the new ruling coalition includes pro-military leaders, including generals from the outgoing government who have violently quashed criticism in the name of maintaining stability.

 

Thai voters could oust military from power — barring election fraud

 

The vote formalized a remarkable about-face for Pheu Thai, which vowed — until recently — not to share power with members of the conservative elite who have repeatedly ousted it from government through judicial or military coups.

 

Hours before the vote, Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to the country after 17 years in self-exile, a decision that analysts say was probably made in anticipation of Pheu Thai’s shaky ascent back into power. Thaksin, 74, helped establish an earlier incarnation of Pheu Thai and his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was earlier put forward as one of the party’s presidential candidates.

A billionaire who built his wealth running a telecommunications conglomerate, Thaksin led Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was overthrown by the military. Faced with a raft of corruption charges, he has avoided returning to his home country with the exception of a brief visit in 2008, even as the populist movement he founded continued to play a major role in Thai politics.

 

But on Tuesday morning, hours before Pheu Thai’s Srettha garnered enough votes to assume the top role, Thaksin disembarked from a private jet at Don Mueang International Airport. After meeting briefly with family, he was escorted to the Supreme Court and then to the Bangkok Remand Prison, where authorities said he is being held in isolation.

It is not immediately clear whether Thaksin will serve his full sentence of eight years in prison under the new government led by Srettha, a close ally of the Shinawatra family. Many expect Thaksin to try to seek a royal pardon or parole based on medical reasons.

“We’ve missed him,” said Boom Faidang, 66, one of thousands of Thaksin supporters in red shirts who gathered at the airport to welcome home the renowned fugitive. “He has done so many good things for Thai people and for the country.”

Deposed by the military in 2014, Pheu Thai earned fewer votes than expected at the election this May, losing ground to Move Forward, a youth-oriented party that has sought — more explicitly and consistently than Pheu Thai — to curb the sweeping powers of the Thai monarchy and military.

 

Pheu Thai initially allied itself with Move Forward against the military parties. But after the country’s military-appointed, 250-member Senate voted twice to reject the prime ministerial bid of Move Forward’s candidate Pita Limjaroenrat, Pheu Thai abandoned that coalition and reneged on campaign promises not to ally with its former political foes, including the parties of outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Move Forward, which voted against the ruling coalition on Tuesday, will again serve in the opposition. “I didn’t fail” to become prime minister, Pita, a lawmaker from Bangkok with degrees from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has emphasized to reporters in recent months, “I was blocked.”

 

Move Forward supporters as well as a segment of Pheu Thai adherents say the new coalition ignores what people demanded at the polls, which is an end to military rule. In a news conference Monday, Pheu Thai said it had promised cabinet positions to pro-military parties Palang Pracharath and Ruam Thai Sang Chart, which have governed with rising authoritarianism over the past decade, arresting hundreds of young people at student-led protests in 2020 and changing the constitution to preserve their power.

 

Nattawut Saikua, a prominent leader of Thaksin’s red shirt movement, announced this week that he would leave Pheu Thai because of its decision to share power with the military. “I can’t go along with it,” said Nattawut.

While the new government is not “fully democratic,” it is expected to be more effective than the outgoing junta in addressing the challenges plaguing Thailand, from increasing household debt and a rapidly aging population to rising crime and insecurity along the Thai-Myanmar border, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

 

Srettha, a Bangkok native, holds a master’s of business administration from Claremont University in the United States, and is known to be popular among business leaders. “Thailand is in desperate need of a better performing government, a more competent government,” Thitinan said.

 

Pheu Thai’s compromise may have also paved the way for Thaksin’s return, though in the long term it could cause lasting damage to the party’s reputation as well as to Thaksin’s political legacy. This is “a short term, shortsighted investment,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a professor of Thai politics at Kyoto University, and a critic of the Thai monarchy. “It is not for the benefit of the voters or supporters of the party,” Pavin said, “but for Thaksin’s own interest.”

Pheu Thai’s dealmaking, analysts say, could end up driving support for Move Forward, which has called for Thailand to amend its controversial lèse-majesté law that mandates severe punishments for anyone who criticizes the royal family.

In 2020, when Thailand’s Constitutional Court disbanded an earlier version of the party, called Future Forward, thousands of young people took to the streets of Bangkok, braving the military’s water cannons and tear gas. At the recent election, it nearly doubled its number of seats in the House of Representatives, showing that it can capture a broad base of support, said Aaron Connelly, a senior fellow for Southeast Asian Politics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

 

Conservatives may have stopped Move Forward from assuming power now, Connelly said, but “they can’t keep doing this without forcing a reckoning.”

 

By Wilawan Watcharasakwej and Rebecca Tan

The Washington Post
 

Tan reported from Singapore. Regine Cabato in Manila contributed to this report.

 

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/21/thailand-thaksin-pheu-thai-election-srettha/#

 

-- The Washington Post 2023-08-22

 

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[Yorkshire Tea]

11 party coalition!  When's the next election ????

 

[Hunz Kittisak]

In a parliamentary system like Thailand the people aka voters DO NOT choose the Prime Minister 

 

The elected members of parliament and the appointed senate vote for the Prime Minister from candidates put forth by the winning parties 

[2baht]

27 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

11 party coalition!  When's the next election ????

 

Let's see if it's needed, unless.....unless of course the army become unsatisfied and...........................................................! ????

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by 2baht

[dinsdale]

A traitor to the people who voted for refom and the ousting of the military. The junta still have their snouts in the trough only now must share with PT.

Edited August 22, 2023 by dinsdale

[ballpoint]

19 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thaksin, 74, helped establish an earlier incarnation of Pheu Thai and his daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was earlier put forward as one of the party’s presidential candidates.

That escalated quickly.

[david555]

Some one will be drinking a glass of champagne in Bangkok prison now,,,????

 

Congratulations ....! ????

Edited August 22, 2023 by david555

[findlay13]

Democracy in Action????

[Neeranam]

It's similar to the USA, except it's not anyone but Trump, it's anyone but Prayut. 

[brewsterbudgen]

Cue the protests?

 

[proton]

So what qualifies this unelected suit to be PM, apart from knowing the right people and being filthy rich? Disgraceful farce.

[Accidental Tourist]

Let's the soap opera begin...

[Homburg]

Thai politics is just SO entertaining.  Finally a new PM, plus "Public General Enemy #1" banged up on the same day!  Stay tuned, next week: Who REALLY shot JR.

[2baht]

3 minutes ago, proton said:

So what qualifies this unelected suit to be PM, apart from knowing the right people and being filthy rich?

Is more needed??? He has perfect qualifications! ????

[mfd101]

Will be interesting to see how the Constitutional Court & the Electoral Commission behave - over time - under (so to speak) new management ... I wonder how many opportunities are coming along over, say, the next 2 years for new appointments to either.

Edited August 22, 2023 by mfd101

[NemoH]

Strange to find so many comments from people who lack understanding of parliament system.. the heading is misleading too.

I am neutral on who becomes PM. 

MF party only won 30% of the vote so how is it that the remaining 70% cannot choose their candidate for PM? So how is their choice not something the Thai people had voted for ?

Edited August 22, 2023 by NemoH

[2baht]

6 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Cue the protests?

 

Check the weather forecast, can't be protesting in the rain, now! Damn it's hot!

[Ironman1958]

A constitutional referendum was held in Thailand on 7 August 2016.

The charter offered only semi-democracy and was seen to tighten military rule in Thailand.

However, it was approved by 61% of voters with a 59% turnout.

“More of the same” is insured now.

This is what happens when you don’t pay attention

[NoDisplayName]

33 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

11 party coalition!  When's the next election ????

 

What difference, at this point, would it make?

[Stocky]

10 minutes ago, proton said:

So what qualifies this unelected suit to be PM, apart from knowing the right people and being filthy rich? Disgraceful farce.

Actually he was elected, just not the leader of the party with the biggest share of the vote.  

[SABloke]

7 minutes ago, NemoH said:

Strange to find so many comments from people who lack understanding of parliament system.. the heading is misleading too.

MF party only won 30% of the vote so how is it that the remaining 70% cannot choose their candidate for PM? So how is their choice not something the Thai people had voted for ?

Strange that you seem to conveniently ignore the fact that when 62% of the voters' representatives voted for Pita, their choice was not allowed to be the choice. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by SABloke

[steven100]

what a circus Thailand has become ......     honestly ,  this place is a joke    !!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by metisdead
Trolling image removed.

[zzaa09]

Played well by the ruling class.

Those that might've been expecting something different were clearly delusional. 

 

It's how things work everywhere.

[kingstonkid]

38 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

11 party coalition!  When's the next election ????

 

It will be interesting to see what promises they keep and what they don't.

 

Considering that Anutin and BJT are pro pot and PT stated they were against it that will be one of the things.

 

Also people wil be looking for their new wallets soon

 

Expect Prawit the miniser of defence

Anutin the health minister

Foreign affairs should be PT but then again they have a lot of mouths to feed.

 

Eduction and Finance are going to be the ones to watch if PT is not in charge then we know it is a miltary government.

[Thailand]

18 minutes ago, proton said:

So what qualifies this unelected suit to be PM, apart from knowing the right people and being filthy rich? Disgraceful farce.

Just a figurehead. Simply part of the deal to bring Thaksin back and keep the Move Forward out of government.

[kingstonkid]

10 minutes ago, NemoH said:

Strange to find so many comments from people who lack understanding of parliament system.. the heading is misleading too.

I am neutral on who becomes PM. 

MF party only won 30% of the vote so how is it that the remaining 70% cannot choose their candidate for PM? So how is their choice not something the Thai people had voted for ?

Nemoh it is strange that you donot follow elections It is quite possible to get more votes than the winning party.

 

It depends on the turnout in the diferent ridings.

In a landslide like the areas that BJT run they get a huge number of votes but at the end of the day they get few in other areas.

Same with the military strong holds and the PT base the support is huge 

 

However MFP did ot have those landslide areas therfore the voting was closer hence the numbers of votes fo rhe party is skewed.

 

An American example is Hillary got more votes than Donald but Donald won more states.  

[dinsdale]

4 minutes ago, NemoH said:

Strange to find so many comments from people who lack understanding of parliament system.. the heading is misleading too.

I am neutral on who becomes PM. 

MF party only won 30% of the vote so how is it that the remaining 70% cannot choose their candidate for PM? So how is their choice not something the Thai people had voted for ?

People voted for reform and ousting the military elites. The military elites are still there. By the way MFP won 38.01% of the votes and PT 28.86%. That's 66.87% combined (a huge majority in anyones language) for the ousting of the military elite. As I say the military elites are still there and the people's voice has been usurped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Thai_general_election

It seems it's you who has the lack of understanding.

[ozz1]

It's going to be interesting on how they are going to get on together as they were enemies a few days ago money money money money and with taksin in the mix it's going to be a rocky ride

[smedly]

12 minutes ago, NemoH said:

Strange to find so many comments from people who lack understanding of parliament system.. the heading is misleading too.

I am neutral on who becomes PM. 

MF party only won 30% of the vote so how is it that the remaining 70% cannot choose their candidate for PM? So how is their choice not something the Thai people had voted for ?

PT and MFP plus a few other anti junta parties got 80% of the vote, doesn't that speak for itself or do you need it explaned - and the unelected senate should have no say in PM selection

 

what a circus

[Callmeishmael]

Does this mean that the 'caretaker' cabinet will finally stop making sweeping changes?