Thailand’s Move Forward seeks to curb Senate powers after loss in PM vote

Reuters:

BANGKOK, July 14 – Thailand’s Move Forward party filed a motion in parliament on Friday seeking to curb the power of the military-appointed Senate, a day after the body thwarted its party leader’s bid to become prime minister.

The role of the 249-member Senate in deciding a prime minister along with the elected lower house – a system designed by the royalist military after a 2014 coup – is seen as a constitutional safeguard to protect the interests of the generals and the conservative establishment.

Move Forward won the most seats in an election in May but despite being unopposed and having the backing of his eight-party alliance, its leader Pita Limjaroenrat lost the crucial vote on the premiership on Thursday, after the Senate and parties of the outgoing, army-backed government closed ranks to deny him the top job.

Only 13 senators backed 42-year-old Pita, with the rest voting against him or abstaining, which his party said indicated some were acting under duress.

Party secretary general Chaithawat Tulathon filed a motion on Friday to amend part of the constitution, saying “This is a solution that all sides will feel comfortable with”.

“There are forces from the old power to pressure the Senate – from the old power to some capitalists who do not want to see a Move Forward government,” he said in an earlier television interview, adding it could take about one month to pass.

Pita, a liberal from the private sector, has won huge youth support for his plan to shake up politics and bring reforms to sectors and institutions long considered untouchable.

That includes the monarchy, more specifically, a law that prohibits insulting it, by far Move Forward’s most contentious policy and a big obstacle in its attempts to persuade legislators to back Pita.