A political crisis is looming over Thailand after a decisive vote held by the joint sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday, July 19, blocked the prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat from standing again for the post.
In a vote split 394-312, the National Assembly voted to deny Pita’s second nomination to form a government. The pro-military and conservative senators opposed his renomination on the grounds that it constitutes submitting a defeated motion in the same parliamentary sitting.
Legislators from the eight-party coalition that supported Pita argued that the nomination for prime minister cannot be equated to a general motion, and doing so would set a dangerous precedent for all future nominations.
Wednesday was nothing short of high drama in Thai politics as Pita was also temporarily suspended from serving as a legislator by the Constitutional Court, the country’s apex judicial authority, just as parliamentarians were debating his eligibility to stand for the prime minister’s post.
The court’s decision to suspend Pita comes as part of its decision to take up two major cases regarding his eligibility to serve as a legislator. One case revolves around charges of him holding stakes in a media company at the time of filing his candidacy and the second is based on a petition seeking dissolution of his Move Forward Party (MFP) over its stand on the highly contentious royal defamation law.
These turn of events come less than a week after Pita failed to secure enough support to form a coalition government in the first parliamentary vote to elect the prime minister.
It has been over two months since the results of the general election to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the parliament, went overwhelmingly in favor of pro-democracy and anti-junta parties, reducing the ruling pro-military bloc to a minority in the House.
The current anti-junta coalition, which includes two of the largest parties, Move Forward and the Pheu Thai Party, holds a significant majority with 312 seats. The pro-junta groups’ combined strength in the House is just 188. However, as per the current Thai constitution drafted and enforced during the junta regime of Prayut Chan-o-cha in 2017, a prime minister is to be elected jointly by both the elected 500-member House and the 250-member Senate, which in its current state consists entirely of junta-era appointees.
With the anti-junta coalition falling considerably short of the 376 votes required in a joint sitting of both the houses, the junta-appointed Senate currently holds the power to block any attempt by the coalition to form a new government to replace the outgoing Prayut government.
Despite widespread anger and popular resentment, the conservatives in the House and the Senate have actively blocked Pita’s bid to form a government over objections to his and the MFP’s stand on reforming the contentious Article 112 of the criminal code which criminalizes defamation or criticism of the monarchy with a jail sentence ranging from three to 15 years.
The law, the harshest lèse-majesté law in existence, was among the key issues raised during the protests in Thailand between 2020 and 2021, with many calling for reforms of the law or its abolition altogether.
Protesters have long argued that the law has been used by several military coup governments over the years to crack down on and target pro-democracy advocates, social movements, and the political opposition. The ever-expanding definition of what constitutes lèse-majesté has also created a nebulous legal weapon often employed against activists
Rights groups have argued that the sweeping definition of what constitutes royal defamation or lèse-majesté, which according to a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling can also include calls to reform the monarchy, makes it a potent weapon to stifle political opposition.
The MFP’s expansion into conservative turfs in urban Thailand, especially Bangkok, is largely due to its support of the student-led protests against the law. This makes the party’s commitment to reform the law a political necessity in order to hold on to its newfound base.
But this has also become the key contention for the conservatives and the junta-appointed senators, who have repeatedly declared they would vote against any government that might involve Move Forward as a constituent.
All eyes are now on Pheu Thai, the second-largest party in the House and a coalition partner of Move Forward, as the House speaker has scheduled the next vote for next week, on July 27.
Who or what’s next?
Since Move Forward did not file any other candidates for prime minister before the general election, the party has effectively exhausted any further opportunities to form a government in Thailand. The onus now falls on the second-largest party in the House and also the coalition, Pheu Thai, which has an equally difficult task cut out for itself.
Pheu Thai is associated with the Shinawatra clan and consequently has a long history of acrimony with the militarist establishment of Thailand. The party is currently led by Paetongtharn Shinawatra, the daughter of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra and niece of another former PM Yingluck Shinawatra, both of whom were unseated by military coups in the past and are now political exiles.
The party is likely to nominate one of its predetermined candidates, Srettha Thavisin, a real-estate tycoon with close associations with the Shinawatras, instead of its leader Paetongtarn, as a compromise candidate.
Despite the acrimonious history, senators and the conservatives have expressed readiness to vote for a Pheu Thai candidate as long as Move Forward is kept out of the coalition. The demand is a double-edged sword and can have far-reaching political repercussions for Pheu Thai, which has already seen a massive erosion of its votes to Move Forward over its reluctance to support the protests or take a clear stand on the lèse-majesté law.
There is also the danger of a new wave of protests by Move Forward supporters if Pheu Thai decides to exclude it from the upcoming government. Additionally, the Pheu Thai leadership is also concerned of being beholden to the party’s conservative and pro-junta rivals in the parliament.
But several leaders, including Srettha, have expressed greater concern over losing the chance to form a government and abdicating the opportunity to military loyalists and conservatives, which could spell further instability in the near future.
On the other hand, Move Forward will be tied down with the cases in the Constitutional Court and, in the worst case scenario, could see its wholesale dissolution and a ban on Pita and other senior leaders from active politics.
Leaders in Pheu Thai also fear that continued association with Move Forward could lead to it being the target of the military-controlled establishment, including the courts, or worse still, another coup could put the country through another round of junta rule in the coming years.
Demonstrations and calls made to “rise and fight”

The court’s order to temporarily suspend Pita from serving as a legislator pending a final decision provoked demonstrations outside the National Assembly on Wednesday as legislators debated his renomination.
Shortly after Pita walked out of the parliament after receiving the court order, thousands of Move Forward supporters and protesters thronged the Democracy Monument in the national capital Bangkok, calling out against the junta-controlled establishment undermining the election mandate.
Banners and slogans calling for the establishment to “Respect my vote” and calling Pita the “nation’s consensus” were seen at the demonstration. Protesters also raised slogans against the Constitutional Court for passing the suspension order against Pita.
Additionally, student groups from Thammasat University, Chulalongkorn University, and Mae Fah Luang University have put out a joint statement calling for “Thai people to rise and fight through every means possible to uphold democracy.”
“Today, we, the people, are filled with immense disappointment and mourn the demise of justice and democracy in this country,” read the highly charged statement. “However, this is the last day that we will grieve, for tomorrow, we will not drown in despair caused by your inequitable actions.”
According to observers, the current demonstrations may grow larger if the anti-junta coalition fails to form a new government and push the city of Bangkok, along with the rest of the country, towards a new wave of civil unrest and protests.