Congratulations

[Khun Paul]

In other news, some "legal advice" from one of the caretaker DPM's raises the spectre of an annulled election.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... d-election

Just as I guessed any infraction no matter how small will be siexed upon to discredit a moden politican, as the OLD GUARD do not wish to have their collective secrets displayed , especially ALL those Mlitar3y appointed Senators

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Without going too far into discussions of things proscribed, #9 hardly ever left the country whereas #10 hardly ever stayed here. Maybe that's something that shades the opinion of younger generations, maybe not.

The individual you mention and his wife did meet Elvis Presley on a Hollywood movie set in 1960. I believe he did a bit of living outside of Thailand earlier too. But, yes, for the most part he remained in the country.

[Doodoo]

Thaksin says he will return to Thailand in July, despite potential consequences
https://aseannow.com/topic/1296721-thak ... _source=NL

[Drunk Monkey]

seems the wheels are in motion re the orange leader guy who won the election convincingly as predicted hes now under investigation for links to a media company which is forbidden for anyone seeking to be PM, still lots of permutations can and probably will happen ..then theres the senate to get round ...most certainly murky skies n choppy waters before anything re a new government can be sorted out.

Democracy at its finest ..

DM

[tamada]

A comprehensive review of the current state of vacillation.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... -arent-we-

[Drunk Monkey]

A comprehensive review of the current state of vacillation.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... -arent-we-

Good read .. makes the whole current murky situation more understandable ...thanks Jammy.

D M

[deankham]

What a bloody mess. Let's see what happens over the coming months.

[Whistler]

What a bloody mess. Let's see what happens over the coming months.

twas always going to be so, the old regime loyalists obviously plan to wear Pita down by keeping on throwing up quite minor irrelevancies hoping at least one will stick.

[tamada]

Read and weep.

"While it is conceivable, though unlikely, that Thailand’s entrenched monarchy and monarchised military would allow Move Forward’s Pita or Pheu Thai’s Srettha Thavisin to become prime minister, such a scenario would likely lead right-wing political opponents to act to bring the coalition down. This could return Thailand to the years of political pandemonium in 2011–2014 that preceded the most recent military coup. ..."

https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2023/06/2 ... re-1935782

[deankham]

Latest moves to disrupt proceedings;

I'm flying into swampy tomorrow moring. Hoping the city is not on fire and in full scale rioting by then!

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Election Commission said Wednesday it concluded there is evidence that the top candidate to become the country’s next prime minister, a reformist with strong backing among progressive young voters, violated election law and referred his case to the Constitutional Court for a ruling.

The commission’s decision included a request that the court order Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat suspended as a member of Parliament until the ruling is issued. Thai media reported that the court would not make any ruling on Wednesday and indicated that it might need some time to consider the issue.

Pita can still be nominated on Thursday when Parliament meets to vote for a new prime minister. But the commission’s move raises new doubts about whether he can muster enough votes to get the post, already a struggle because of Thailand’s deep political divisions.

The Move Forward Party, with a progressive reformist platform, swept to a surprise first-place finish in May’s general election, capturing 151 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives and the most popular votes. Move Forward has assembled an eight-party, 312-seat coalition it had planned to take power. But the unlikely approval from members in the conservative 250-seat non-elected Senate, which participates in the vote for prime minister, makes Pita’s path to power a difficult one.

Pita’s party responded to the commission’s decision by questioning its fairness and even its legality. It said its decision was unnecessarily hurried and violated its own procedures by failing to call Pita to give a statement.

The commission had earlier said it acted correctly but Move Forward alleges it may have violated the law on malfeasance, which makes an official who carries out his duties in a wrongful manner, or fails to carry out his lawful duties, subject to criminal punishment of one to 10 years imprisonment and a fine.

The case against Pita hinges on his alleged ownership of shares in a media company, which would bar him from running for office. The complaint against him, lodged by a member of a rival political party, applied to the period of the 2019 general election. Pita had challenged the basis for the claim, which extended to his failure to include the shares on a mandatory assets declaration.

The case the commission referred to the court goes beyond a technical election law violation and accuses Pita of running for office with awareness that he was ineligible, a criminal violation punishable by maximum imprisonment of three years and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht ($1,720). The party faces a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($2,865).

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, the government’s top legal advisor, has been quoted as saying that if party leader Pita was ruled unqualified to endorse his party’s candidates for the May election, the polls could be nullified and a new election called.

There have been fears since the election that Thailand’s conservative ruling establishment would use what its political opponents consider to be dirty tricks to hold on to power. For a decade-and-a-half, it has repeatedly used the courts and so-called independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue controversial rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.

The dissolution in 2019 of the Future Forward party, a forerunner of Move Forward, triggered vigorous street protests by pro-democracy activists that trailed off only when the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

[tamada]

I told Pita that he shouldn't have done his TV channel 3 interview this morning but nope, he insisted he could smile and peer directly into the camera when answering and not at the interviewer who was pitching more soft balls than the Sooners.

[tamada]

Kicks off at 6 pm today in Bangkok.

Just watched the morning news where police barricades are being erected while their truck-mounted water cannons and "blue water" tankers move to strategic locations.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/pr ... nd-pm-pita

[Whistler]

He got just 13 votes from the army-appointed senate, but a lot of abstentions.

[jackspratt]

It is pretty clear that democracy and the will of the people is a forlorn hope, pitted against the anti-democratic old guard establishment.

Same as it ever was.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

This opinion piece in the Bangkok Post explains recent Thai elections well:

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... -democracy

[tamada]

Spot on. Copy and paste it somewhere safe before it vanishes.

[tamada]

Thaksin's current political vehicle is in its third iteration so it was always highly unlikely that MFP could get the job done on only their second bite of the bitter apple.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Spot on. Copy and paste it somewhere safe before it vanishes.

I tried, but can't. I can copy the link, but not the contents of the article.

[tamada]

Spot on. Copy and paste it somewhere safe before it vanishes.

I tried, but can't. I can copy the link, but not the contents of the article.

If you have the ability to print to pdf, that works. Then you can do an online conversion from pdf to doc for viewing in Word.

I've saved a copy this way, let me know if you need it.

[pipoz4444]

The issue with Pita, may be, how smart or how dumb or how arrogant he is,

1. To go into the Thai Political Den, retaining Thai media shares ITV Public Co. in his name as the court-appointed administrator on behalf of other relatives, knowing that his predecessor was denied the PM position for a very similar reason and presumably also knowing that he would face a similar challenge from the establishment, was not a smart move and raises the question, why did he not simply got to the court and change/transfer the court-appointed administrator name over those shares to his wife/sister or someone else, before it became an issue of contention, to be used against him.

Not being a Thai Lawyer, but I presume he could have gone through that court process in advance of the election, so why not do it, if you wanted to ensure your best chance of winning, with a clean slate, when the sh..t was due to start flying.

Whilst the holding or retaining Thai media shares ITV Public Co may or may not have merit, it was a always a potential risk to his chance of success.

2. Why also directly challenge the establishment on one of the most divisive issues in Thailand, before you get your bum firmly planted in that PM seat, knowing that it might/will only alienate some of that senate support, that you so desperately need to be PM.

Politicians tend to campaign on divisive issues, but then go quite on them in the immediate aftermath of the election and bring them out as Reform issues later. In Pita's case didn't even get across the line as PM before he started rattling the cage with the R.......... word, which he didn't need to do at this time, as he already had the peoples votes in the bag. But what he didn't have was the Senate vote, mainly loyal to............Not a smart move in my view.

He could have helped his chances more.

pipoz4444