Thailand’s parliament blocks Pita Limjaroenrat’s PM nomination

livemint.com:

CNN. Limjaroenrat is the winner of May’s nationwide elections. This development comes as a major blow to Limjaroenrat's progressive opposition party after nearly a decade of military-backed rule.

The elections in May, which saw a record turnout, delivered a powerful rebuke to the military-backed establishment that has ruled Thailand since 2014, when then-army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha seized power in a coup. According to the House Speaker, out of the 715 members of parliament present, 394 voted to block the second nomination, 312 voted for it, eight abstained and one, Pita himself, didn’t cast the vote. Pita was temporarily suspended as a lawmaker by the country’s constitutional court after a complaint filed by the Election Commission against the Move Forward Party leader, accusing him of violating election laws for allegedly holding shares in a media company, said the CNN report.

Pita has denied that he broke election rules and previously accused the Election Commission of rushing the case to court. The Move Forward Party had pledged deep structural reforms to how Thailand is run, proposing changes to the military, the economy, the decentralization of power and even reforms to the previously untouchable monarchy, according to CNN. Pita had assembled a coalition of parties holding a majority in the House of Representatives.

But his nomination for prime minister was defeated in a joint vote of the House and Senate last week, with conservative military-appointed senators mostly refusing their support. Pita, during the debate on whether he could legally be renominated, said he would comply with the court’s order to step down from his parliamentary post. “I think Thailand has changed, and will never be the same, since May 14,"