BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s nine-year struggle to restore civilian democracy hit a major roadblock Thursday when the government-appointed Senate voted against the biggest winner in May’s national elections, plunging this U.S. ally into a fresh political crisis.
The Senate vote blocked the hopes of Pita Limjaroenrat, the liberal leader of the new Move Forward Party (MFP), from forming a new civilian-led coalition government. Mr. Pita won the most votes in the May 14 vote, boosted by strong support from younger voters tired of nearly a decade of military-dominated rule.
Mr. Pita needed a majority of 375 votes from the combined tally of the elected House and the appointed Senate.
Official results showed Mr. Pita received a combined 334 House and Senate votes, while 182 voted against him and 199 abstained. Only 13 of the 250 senators — all appointed by the government under a new constitution pushed through by outgoing Prime Minister and former Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha — voted for Mr. Pita.
“I just watched a rigged system work as designed, not a democratic process,” tweeted Mark S. Cogan, an associate professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Japan’s Kansai Gaidai University.
Mr. Pita told reporters afterward that he “accepted” the vote but was not giving up, The Associated Press reported.
Outside parliament, Mr. Pita’s supporters, mostly clad in their party’s orange color, listened in the drizzling rain to speakers denouncing the loss, saving most of their anger for the Senate.
“The Senate are not with the people. The election did not mean anything to them,” Nattapon Jangwangkaew, 42, complained.
Mr. Pita, also 42, wanted to reduce the U.S.-trained military’s involvement in politics and dissolve the appointed Senate which voted him down.
Opponents, including the military and supporters of Thailand’s monarchy, warn that Mr. Pita will upset the country’s diplomatic, military and economic balancing act between the U.S. and China, and tilt Bangkok toward Washington because he received a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from MIT.
Thursday’s vote was the first combined sitting of parliament’s 500-member House and 250-seat Senate since May’s House election.
Mr. Pita earned enemies among conservatives with his pledge to ease — but not abolish — Thailand’s strict law against criticizing the monarchy. The law can sentence anyone to prison for up to 15 years for exposing “the king to any sort of accusation or action.”
Hundreds have been jailed under the law, while others have fled abroad.
“If you let people insult the monarchy without any laws to keep them in check, our country will burn,” Chada Thaiseth of the Bhumjai Thai (Proud to be Thai) party warned during the debate in parliament hours before the vote.
“How about I propose a law allowing people to shoot those insulting the monarchy?” Mr. Chada said.
Mr. Pita told parliament: “The monarchy should not be used as a political tool against others. If lese majeste had not been abused, then we would not have this political conflict now.”
“I will work hard to maintain the monarchy institution,” Mr. Pita added.
But Sen. Somchai Sawangkarn warned Mr. Pita’s supporters during the debate: “Don’t copy everything from the Westerners that you forget Thai-ness.”
Thailand’s next prime minister must be endorsed by King Vajiralongkorn, crowned in 2019. The military, royalists, and conservatives perceive the monarchy as a “pillar” of traditional Thai society and stability.
In May, Mr. Pita’s MFP won the most ballots and House seats — 14 million votes and 151 seats.
Rejecting Mr. Pita, the Senate’s vote dealt a blow to his multi-party coalition, which held a fragile majority in the newly elected House of Representatives. Mr. Pita may convince more senators to support him during parliament’s next vote on July 19 or 20, but another party’s candidate could be nominated.
When Mr. Pita entered parliament on Thursday for the vote, his eight-party coalition had 312 House seats. Within hours, support dwindled. His nomination attracted only 302 House votes.
If Mr. Pita is not nominated again, his coalition is expected to regroup and nominate Srettha Thavisin, a real estate tycoon leading the second-place Pheu Thai Party (PTP), which has 141 House seats in Mr. Pita’s coalition.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court, which can ban Mr. Pita from politics and dissolve his MFP party, this week opened an investigation into whether he had a conflict of interest after he inherited 42,000 shares in ITV, a media company.
Many anti-Pita lawmakers denied they were blocking a return to democracy, and pointed to those legal problems as reasons to reject him, a stance Mr. Pita’s backers called hypocritical.
An extended stalemate has the potential for more serious clashes. When a forerunner party to Move Forward was forced to dissolve in 2019, it sparked a youth-led protest movement that ended up violently resisting government efforts to break up their demonstrations.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Richard S. Ehrlich can be reached at rehrlich@washingtontimes.com.
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