Thai people reject army-backed government, support 2 pro-democracy parties

The progressive Move Forward Party (MFP), which seeks to reform Thailand’s strict royal insult laws, looks set to be the largest party on course – setting up a potential clash with the kingdom’s powerful royal-military elite.

Thais voted in large numbers following an election campaign by a younger generation yearning for change against the conservative elite embodied by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the former army chief who seized power in a 2014 coup.

But in a state where coups and court orders have often trumped the ballot box, there are fears the result could still fail, raising the prospect of fresh instability.

With ballots counted from 97% of polling stations, Electoral Commission data showed the MFP at 13.5 million in the popular vote, followed by Pheu Thai at 10.3 million and Prayut’s United Thai Nation party in third place at 4.5 million.

The result is a remarkable achievement for the MFP, a rising party that channeled the energy of radical youth-led pro-democracy street protests that rocked Bangkok in 2020.

The party’s leader, 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, declared that the army-backed parties had “closed the door” on any chance of forming a minority government.

Pita told reporters that the MFP would seek talks with Pheu Thai and that a coalition deal is “definitely on the cards”.

Pheu Thai leader Patongtorn Shinawatra congratulated the MFP on their success and said “we can work together”.

“We are ready to talk about how to move forward, but we are waiting for the official result,” she said.

The Election Commission is not expected to officially confirm the final number of seats won by each party for several weeks.

But early Monday it projected the MFP would win 113 seats out of a total of 400 constituencies, only slightly ahead of Phi Phi Thai’s 112. Another 100 seats will be allotted to the parties on a proportional basis.

The result is a heavy blow to Phu Thai, the latest iteration of the political movement founded by Patongtarn’s father, billionaire former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Prior to this, parties aligned to Thaksin had won a majority of seats in every election since 2001, and Patongtorn urged voters to give him a landslide, removing the threat of military intervention.

Despite their success, the MFP and Phu Thai may still face a battle to regain power, thanks to the junta-scripted 2017 constitution.

The new prime minister would be chosen jointly by 500 elected lawmakers and 250 Senate members appointed by Prayut’s junta – stacking the deck in favor of the military.

Adding to the uncertainty, rumors are already swirling that the MFP could be dissolved by court order – the same fate that befell its predecessor, the Future Forward party, after performing unexpectedly well in the 2019 election.

protest legacy

The election was the first since major street protests erupted in 2020 with demands to curb Thailand’s king’s power and spending – breaking a long-standing taboo on questioning the monarchy.

The demonstrations subsided as COVID-19 restrictions were imposed and dozens of leaders were arrested, but their energy fueled growing support for the more hardline opposition MFP.

“These days the younger generations care about their rights and they will come to vote,” the father told reporters as he arrived to vote on Sunday.

Where the MFP sought support from millennials and Gen Z voters – who make up nearly half of the 52 million-strong electorate – Phu Thai drew on its traditional base in the rural northeast, where voters still yearn for the welfare policies implemented by Thaksin. Is grateful. In the early 2000s.

As the results came in, a somber-looking Prayut thanked voters for their support as he left his party headquarters.

“I will continue to do my best regardless of the result,” he told reporters.

The former general made an unabashedly nationalistic pitch to aging voters, portraying himself as the only candidate capable of saving Thailand from chaos and ruin.

But he was blamed for a creaking economy and a weak recovery from the pandemic, which battered the state’s vital tourism industry.

Rights groups accused Prayut of overseeing a major crackdown on basic freedoms, with a sharp increase in prosecutions under Thailand’s harsh royal defamation laws.

The country has seen a dozen coups over the last century and has been locked in a cycle of street protests, coups and court orders disbanding political parties over the past two decades.

It remains to be seen whether the powerful imperial-military elite will find accommodation with the hardline MFP.