Pita Limjaroenrat is suspected by the Election Commission of irregularities during the Thai parliamentary elections that he won last May. Report that Thai media Wednesday. The 42-year-old pro-democracy politician is accused, among other things, of such write Thai mediaown shares in a major media company. Thai law prohibits such shareholding for members of parliament.
Last May’s victory made Pita the clear favorite for the vacated post of Prime Minister of Thailand. Now Pita risks being suspended by the Thai parliament. The election commission says it has enough bad elements to hand over the file about his party Move Forward to the Constitutional Court. An annulment of the election results is one of the possibilities.
The new developments come on the eve of an important vote in parliament. Deputies and senators would meet there to designate a new prime minister. Pita was the only outspoken candidate for this. The Move Forward party has since described the election commission’s verdict as “abuse of power”. The party says in a statement that it has not been informed of the allegations and has not been given the opportunity to defend itself. It is unclear whether the vote will continue on Thursday.
Last May, the Move Forward party dealt a serious blow to the conservative establishment with a progressive program centered around the demand for more democracy. On Tuesday, former army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, the loser of the recent elections, announced his retirement as prime minister after nine years. This ended the regime of the army, which seized power in a coup in 2014. During that reign, basic freedoms came under pressure and Thai economic growth came to a standstill.
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