The Constitutional Court in Thailand has agreed to suspend Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, a leading candidate to become prime minister, from his duties as a member of parliament pending its ruling on whether he violated election law.
The court’s announcement came ahead of a likely second vote in parliament on whether to confirm Mr Pita as prime minister.
His party finished top in May’s general election and assembled an eight-party coalition that won 312 seats in the house of representatives.
But the coalition failed to win enough support in an initial vote last week from the non-elected, military-appointed senate, which votes together with the lower house to select the country’s head of government.
The court’s announcement would still allow Mr Pita’s nomination and selection as prime minister, at least until a ruling. But it also puts pressure on him to make way for another candidate, perhaps even before a second vote scheduled for Wednesday can be held.
Thailand’s state election commission had referred Mr Pita’s case to the court, saying there was evidence he had violated election law over his undeclared alleged ownership of media company shares, which candidates for the legislature are not allowed to have.
His supporters have challenged the commission’s conclusion on what is widely seen as a minor technical transgression at worst.
Mr Pita had been expected to have a last chance on Wednesday to get the country’s parliament to confirm him as the next prime minister after being rebuffed last week when he failed to get enough support from the senate, whose members made clear they would not vote for him because of his party’s platform.
The party campaigned with a promise to try to amend a law that makes it illegal to defame, insult or threaten Thailand’s royal family. Critics say the law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, is abused as a political weapon.
The senate’s members, along with the army and the courts, are considered to be the conservative royalist establishment’s bulwark against change.
Move Forward, whose agenda appealed to younger voters, also seeks reforms that would reduce the influence of the military, which has staged more than a dozen coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and big business monopolies.
Ahead of Wednesday’s session, Mr Pita posted a message on Twitter asking senators to apply the same principles they did in 2019, when they voted for the candidate of a military-backed coalition that held a majority of house seats.
He also accused some senators of using the controversial claim that he is undermining the monarchy as an excuse to reject his candidacy, when their actual reason is that they feel their own interests are threatened by his party’s broader reform agenda.
