The leader of the Move Forward party who won the election was not allowed to become the Prime Minister of Thailand
Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that the leader of the Move Forward party, which won the majority of seats in the Thai election, Pita Limjaroenrat, was disqualified as a member of parliament after winning the election because he had a stake in a media company.
At the meeting of the Thai Parliament held today, they discussed and debated for more than 7 hours regarding the second proposal of Pita as Prime Minister. Reuters reports that the Thai Constitutional Court has issued a separate decision to cancel Pita's candidacy.
In the video recorded by AFP news agency, the leader of the Move Forward party, Pita, after the decision of the Constitutional Court came out. He left his MP ID card at the MP seat where he was sitting. He said goodbye to everyone. When Pita left the Thai parliament, the rest of the members cheered and greeted him.
According to the constitution enacted after the Thai military coup in 2014, candidates contesting in the election must not own news media.
Pita Limjaroenrat responded that the media company iTV, which he owned shares of, had not broadcasted any news since 2007, so there was no violation of the constitutional rule.
Pita Limjaroenrat did not get enough votes in the Thai parliament's new prime minister election last week because he did not get the support of the deputies appointed by the Thai military. The decision comes as he tries to get elected in the second round of the election this week.
The Move Forward party and its leader Pita won the election with slogans of reform, including reducing the role of the military in Thailand, which has been in a military coup, and repealing a law that allows critics of the Thai monarchy to be jailed.
The Thai Constitutional Court's dismissal of Pita as a member of parliament has yet to be clarified, according to international news reports.
CHONLANAN SRIKAEW, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, one of the eight parties, said that the position of the eight-party alliance that proposed Pita as prime minister has not changed.
"Because of the Constitutional Court's decision today, Whether or not it affected the choice of Pita as Prime Minister or not as long as there is no clear and precise decision from the court, As for us, Pita is qualified to be the prime minister. It is determined that he can still be elected." KANAWEE SUEBSAENG, leader of FAIR PARTY, one of the eight-party alliances, said this, "The position of our eight-party alliance, which proposed to elect Pita as the prime minister, has not changed. But if we can't do this anymore, we will have to discuss again among the eight parties who will be proposed as the prime minister."
NUG's Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Sasa, believes that if the people's democracy and wishes are ignored and blocked, there will be massive public protests like in Myanmar.
"Mr. Pita was blocked from becoming the Prime Minister of Thailand by the members of the Senate appointed by the military.
It seems to ignore the will of the Thai people. Not only does the terrorist military council ignore the will of the people of Myanmar. When the people were suppressed using terrorist methods, it became a revolution. If Thailand continues to ignore the democracy and wishes of the Thai people and continues to block it, there will be massive public protests. It can be estimated like this. It will be the same in Thailand. It will also happen in Myanmar. If it happens in other ASEAN countries, It could be an Asian Spring Revolution like the Arab Spring Revolution. ASEAN leaders should also be aware that the Burmese Spring Revolution may turn into an Asian Spring Revolution."
Right now, supporters of the Move Forward party are gathering in front of the Thai parliament to protest against the decision of the Thai Constitutional Court.
It has been 65 days since the Thai election that was held on May 14th ended with the victory of the opposition parties, but a new prime minister has not been chosen until now.
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