Thailand’s reformist party, which won the recent election, on Friday, said that it would support a rival candidate to become prime minister after its own leader was temporarily suspended from parliament.
The Move Forward Party (MFP), which received backing from the young and urban voters in the country, said that its main aim was to restore civilian government and not to take the Prime Minister’s job.
After MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat was knocked back in a leadership vote last week, the party said it would now support the nominee from its coalition partner Pheu Thai, which came second in May’s election.
“The most important thing is not that Pita will become PM, but the fact that Thailand would be able to become a democratic country,” MFP secretary-general Chaitawat Tulathon said.
“MFP will allow the second party, Pheu Thai, to become the main party of the eight coalition parties,” Chaitawat said.
“In the next parliamentary meeting, MFP will vote for PT’s PM candidate, just like PT voted for MFP’s PM candidate.”
Pita Limjaroenrat, the prime ministerial candidate in Thailand, was temporarily suspended from parliament on Wednesday (July 19) by a Constitutional Court.
The move came after a case against him was accepted alleging he was unqualified to run in a May 14 election.
The suspension was announced when Pita was returning to parliament for another day of deliberation on whether he could become prime minister after his initial effort failed by 51 votes last week.
The court released a statement saying that Pita has 15 days to respond.
A complaint was filed by the Election Commission against the Move Forward Party (MFP) leader condemning him for violating election laws for allegedly holding shares in a media company.
The court announced that it would hear a case on whether Pita should be removed from parliament entirely for owning shares in a media company. It also ordered him to leave the assembly in the meantime.
“It was commanded that the respondent must suspend his role… until the Constitutional Court has made its decision,” the court said in a statement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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