Thailand Political Development: On Wednesday, July 19, Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat from the House of Representatives. The court found that Mr. Pita had violated a prohibition on members of parliament (MPs) from holding shares in media companies. His suspension as an MP did not immediately mean that he was ineligible to be appointed prime minister.
Following the court’s announcement, however, the House and Senate voted to reject Mr. Pita’s renomination for prime minister. Parliamentary session regulations prohibit the resubmission of a failed motion to parliament during the same parliamentary session. While MPs who favored Mr. Pita’s nomination argued that the regulation only applied to general motions and not prime ministerial nominations, others maintained that following the rejection of Mr. Pita’s nomination last week, there had been no developments that would warrant a resubmission. Ultimately, 395 MPs voted against Mr. Pita’s renomination while 312 voted to support it.
The Move Forward Party (MFP), led by Mr. Pita, had won 151 seats in May’s general election. It is speculated that the Pheu Thai party, which won 141 seats and is one of MFP’s seven coalition partners, will nominate one of their members as the next prime ministerial candidate.
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