The Thais have shown that they want a change in the direction of the country in the elections with the highest turnout ever recorded. The results of the general elections on Sunday, in which the democratic initiative Move Forward was proclaimed the winner followed by the opposition party Pheu Thai, deal a strong blow to the former general who has led Thailand since 2014, and reflect the disenchantment of voters young people who want to limit the influence of the military in politics and reform the monarchy.
Winner of 32 of the 33 seats up for grabs in Bangkok, Move Forward has achieved a historic victory, with a reformist program along the lines of the massive protests of 2020, which rocked the capital calling for changes in the monarchy before the pandemic and suffering the repression of the authorities.
Opposition leader Pita Limjaroenrat has claimed victory for the party as talks to form a coalition government get underway: “I am Pita Limjaroenrat, the next prime minister of Thailand,” the 42-year-old candidate, a graduate of Thailand, has declared. Harvard at a press conference. And he added: "Today is a new day, and I hope it brings sunshine and hope."
With a record turnout of 75.22%, the Move Forward party leads the count with 151 seats out of 500 in the Lower House. It is closely followed by the historic opposition Pheu Thai Party, which has scored 141, while current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army general who rose to power in the 2014 coup, has scored one. fifth position that tastes like disavowal, after nine years in power, marked by a slow economic recovery and the decline of fundamental freedoms.
However, the positions of the victorious reformist party -which proposes to end the controversial article on the crime of lèse majesté and compulsory military service- are seen as too radical by the most conservative sectors of society, and run the risk of create friction with the military-royalist elite that retains influence within the institutions.
Despite the landslide victory, what happens next remains unknown as the country's complex electoral rules, concocted by the military, force the opposition to form a broad coalition to seize power. The opposition needs 376 seats out of the 500 in the National Assembly to counter the influence of the 250 army-appointed senators. For the military, 126 deputies are enough to ensure a majority in the election of the prime minister.
This system, considered biased by human rights organizations, allowed ex-general Prayut to remain in power in 2019, at the cost of a broad coalition that included fifteen parties.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a Pheu Thai candidate and daughter of billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, has responded favorably to the election winner's proposal to move closer to form a six-party alliance. , paving the way for a majority that would win just over 300 seats.
"Pheu Thai congratulates and accepts the fact that Move Forward has proposed to lead the formation of the new government," party leader Cholnan Srikaew celebrated shortly after Pita's remarks.
Pheu Thai, which has been the most popular opposition party so far, retains support from rural areas in the north and northeast, which benefited from Paetongtarn's father's pioneering redistribution policies in the early 2000s.
While the two parties see reforms in the economy as necessary, they disagree on social issues such as royal libel law, which has been used to suppress dissenting voices.
