Thailand poll winner Move Forward, opposition party agree to coalition

Thailand’s two main opposition parties agreed, on Monday (May 15) to form a ruling coalition after winning the elections over the weekend against the military-backed rivals who have been in power for nearly a decade, paving the way for a new era in Thai politics. This comes as Thailand’s opposition Pheu Thai said it was willing to join a coalition government led by Move Forward Party. 

As 99 per cent of votes were counted, the election results showed the liberal Move Forward party (MFP) and the populist Pheu Thai Party well ahead of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s United Thai Nation party dominated Sunday’s ballot. Voters in Thailand turned out in record numbers to deliver a brutal verdict on former coup leader and incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha. 

According to the country’s Election Commission, MFP got 13.5 million in the popular vote followed by Pheu Thai with 10.3 million with Prayut’s United Thai Nation party third on 4.5 million. MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat had said that he sought to build a six-party coalition including Pheu Thai, which said it was ready to join. 

The Move Forward’s 42-year-old leader’s coalition would command 309 seats short of the 376 seats needed to ensure he was elected as prime minister. “I am Pita Limjaroenrat, the next prime minister of Thailand,” he said while talking to the press outside MFP headquarters in Bangkok. He added, “We are ready to form the government” and vowed to be a “prime minister for all”. 

MFP and Pheu Thai are expected to take 292 out of 500 seats in the lower house, with the two main army-allied parties mustering just 76 seats in total. However, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Pheu Thai’s lead prime minister candidate, said the two sides have not yet started negotiating the details of a coalition.

This election was the first one since the 2020 protests that demanded curbs on the power as well as expenditure of Thailand’s monarchy. The newest force in Thai politics, MFP channelled the energy of youth-led pro-democracy protests in 2020 and has vowed to break up monopolies as a part of its agenda. 

Pita has also said that his party would move to amend strict lese majeste laws against insulting the monarchy which critics say have often been invoked to stifle free speech and punishes perceived insults by up to 15 years in prison. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

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