Winds of political change - 17th May 2023

Thailand's government underwent a change of guard in the recent elections after the military-backed incumbent, United Thai Nation Party, which seized power in a coup over a decade ago, saw its time in office come to an end. Polls leading up to the 14th May vote had indicated the party was in jeopardy.

Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP), pulled ahead in the polls, having garnered the support of the younger more democratic leaning demographic who yearned for change. In a bid to implore voters to exercise their franchise, Pita campaigned for voter turnout, having cast his own vote early.

Pita Limjaroenrat: "It's not about, you know, the polls and the numbers, but it's really about the turnout of the people. I think if, if I'm hopeful, the only KPI that would determine how hopeful I am, is at the end of the day, the voting turnout. I think that will be a quite strong driver in terms of success of this election and also my party."

Pita's appeal to the 57 million strong electorate produced an unprecedentedly high voter turnout. Having tallied 99 percent of the votes, support for the incumbent and other military-backed parties had been decimated.

Pita Limjaroenrat: "At least we'll be passing the objective or the goal of the campaign. We have started with the objective of campaign to have more than three digits of, of new MPs, I think at the minimum we have exceeded that goal. And we are in the process of reaching 160, which is the high end goal that we have set."

Nevertheless, as there's no clear majority, the MFP has further hurdles to clear before taking power, as the party now needs to form a coalition government. Furthermore, the 2017 constitution written under the junta's guidance dictates that new premiers have to be approved jointly by 500 elected MPs and 250 junta-appointed senate members.

Beyond this, there are mounting fears over a possible court ordered dissolution of the MFP, echoing the fate of its predecessor, the Future Forward Party, in 2020. This could delay the final declaration of the result by several weeks.