The Office of the Ombudsman has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, requesting a ruling in the case of the parliament’s rejection the renomination of Pita Limjaroenrat, the PM candidate from the Move Forward Party.

The Pheu Thai Party (PTP), the party now tasked with forming a government, has commenced negotiations with other parties after the previous coalition found itself in a deadlock following a perplexing defeat during the second nomination of Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limcharoenrat for Prime Minister on July 19, when parliament voted to block individuals from being nominated more than once.

Protesters gathered at the Democracy Monument to voice their resentment after Pita Limjaroenrat was suspended from parliamentary duties and rejected for renomination as prime minister.

After the Constitutional Court ruled to suspend Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat while it deliberates whether to disqualify him for holding shares in iTV, a defunct media company, protesters gathered in front of the parliament complex to express anger at the ruling.

The activist network Respect My Vote submitted an open letter to senators and MPs yesterday (18 July), calling for them to approve a Prime Minister candidate nominated by the majority in the House of Representatives.

As the Constitutional Court prepares to deliberate petitions filed against the Move Forward Party (MFP) for campaigning to amend the royal defamation law and against its leader Pita Limjaroenrat for holding media shares, activist groups have called on the Court to drop the petitions.

After Pita Limjaroenrat failed in his first bid to become Thailand’s next prime minister with 324 votes from both houses combined, of which only 13 were from the senate, a public gathering under the slogan ‘Respect My Vote’ called for the senators to respect the people’s consensus.

A protest caravan visited the headquarters of the Army, Navy and Police on Sunday (16 July) to demand that military and police commanders appointed as senators resign from the Senate.

Attempts to disqualify Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat and block his bid to become the next Prime Minister have sparked a wave of protests during the past week in several provinces calling for the Senate and the House of Representative to approve his nomination as Prime Minister, as his party won the most seats in the last general election.

The Election Commission has submitted a petition under Section 82 of the Constitution, asking the Constitutional Court to decide the iTV share case of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limcharoenrat.

The Move Forward party emerges top of the poll in the 2023 general election with 151 seats. Although the breakthrough marks the beginning of a rocky transition to democratic politics after nearly a decade of militarized rule, Dulyaphab Chaturongkul asks if it will have to make compromises in the coming months and whether that should decide the fate of the democratic coalition.

Members of an election watch network comprising civil society groups gathered at the Election Commission (EC) Office in Bangkok yesterday (14 June) to demand that the certified election results be declared as soon as possible so that a new government can be formed.