Thailand’s Pita resigns as Move Forward party leader

Bangkok, Sep 15 (EFE).- Thailand’s charismatic politician Pita Limjaroenrat, whose progressive Move Forward party won the May general election, resigned as its leader on Friday.

Although the party won the most votes at the polls, Pita was blocked from being elected prime minister by conservative sectors of parliament and was suspended as an MP while the Constitutional Court rules on a media shareholding complaint against him. Move Forward was later pushed out of the coalition it formed and went into the opposition.

On Friday, Pita wrote on X that the role of opposition leader is “extremely important to the parliamentary system” and should be the MP who leads the number one opposition party. However, his suspension is preventing him from working in the House of Representatives.

“Therefore, I have decided to resign from the position of leader of the Move Forward Party at this time to open the way for the party to select an MP who can perform these duties as the opposition leader,” Pita said in the post.

However, the 43-year-old added that he has not disappeared and will continue to be active in politics working with Move Forward to create the change promised to its voters.

Move Forward and its predecessor Future Forward have been the subjects of contentious legal attempts to disqualify the parties and their leaders.

Pita’s party’s promises included reforms to the military and revising the country’s strict lese majeste law, the latter attracting widespread opposition inside the senate, handpicked by the former military junta.

Following the failed attempts by Move Forward to get Pita voted in as prime minister, poll runner-up Pheu Thai Party formed a coalition with other parties, including pro-military formations, and its nominee Srettha Thavisin was elected prime minister on Aug. 22. EFE

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