BANGKOK — Paetongtarn Shinawatra faces major challenges to become prime minister as expected. Both she and the Pheu Thai Party have had complaints filed against them to obstruct their leadership of the government at this time.
Although she had received 314 votes in the House of Representatives, which easily confirmed her as chief executive, the lack of a single vote from Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, the leader of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), is a political complication for the youngest prime minister in Thailand’s history.
Thailand’s second female prime minister has not yet been able to start helping citizens affected by the severe flooding in the north or tackle other tasks as head of government as she has not yet formed a cabinet as required by the constitution.
This government formation is proving to be more complex than in the past, partly due to the fact that Srettha Thavisin was disqualified from office by the Constitutional Court for having previously appointed “a person with blemishes.”
PPRP Out, Democrat In
Paetongtarn is not only the youngest daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, one of Thailand’s most popular but divisive political figures—a fact that has garnered her both supporters and opponents—but she also faces a political climate characterized by a constitution that allows for political gamesmanship with serious consequences.
Although the Palang Pracharath Party is the third largest party in the coalition government with only 40 seats after the Pheu Thai Party and the Bhumjaithai Party, a clear split within the party between supporters of Gen. Prawit and those of Capt. Thammanat Prompao, Palang Pracharath’s secretary-general, has hampered Paetongtarn’s efforts to form a government.
Thammanat who has long maintained a relationship with Thaksin, had taken advantage of the transitional period of government formation to declare his “independence” from Gen. Prawit and join the government with the Pheu Thai.
Pheu Thai Party has now cut Palang Pracharath Party under Gen. Prawit out of the government. On August 28, they attracted most of the Democrat Party’s MPs to join the government instead. This is despite the fact that former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a 17-time MP from Trang province who had strongly declared multiple times that he would never ever work with the Pheu Thai Party, did not join.
Democrat Party secretary-general Dech-it Khaothong said that the party will obtain two Cabinet seats. This is observed as the disintegration of the Democrat Party after 78 years, as it is Thailand’s oldest party.
Who Betrayed Whom?
Samart Jenchaichitrawanich, a Palang Pracharath Party MP loyal to Gen. Prawit, attacked the Pheu Thai Party, accusing them of betrayal, after they had already voted for Paetongtarn and then later pushed them aside.
He also stated that his party had nothing to do with the 40 junta-appointed senators who petitioned the Charter Court, which led to the removal of PM Srettha. When asked if there would be retaliation, he said no, but they would use legal processes.
The declaration to use legal processes in response has already appeared over the past two days. An anonymous individual submitted a petition to the Election Commission (EC) to consider dissolving the Pheu Thai Party, claiming it is controlled by Thaksin.
On August 28, Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a member of the Palang Pracharath Party, also submitted a petition to the EC to investigate whether Ms. Paetongtarn should be disqualified from the position of Prime Minister for holding shares in a private company after taking office.
This move by Ruangkrai underscores that Pheu Thai Party members no longer want to see the Palang Pracharath Party under Gen. Prawit involved in the government, because they distrust him.
Moreover, Gen. Prawit’s harassment of a journalist by hitting her on the head, on the day he didn’t vote for Paetongtarn, further added weight to Pheu Thai’s decision to remove Palang Pracharath from the government.
Enemy Becomes Thorn
Thaksin recently shared details of Gen. Prawit’s resentment against him behind the scenes during a public visioning statement on August 22. The resentment stemmed from Thaksin’s refusal to support Gen. Prawit, a retired military officer, as chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on the grounds that someone from the military might lack legal expertise.
Since then, Thaksin believes that Gen. Prawit has been behind several unfriendly actions against him. Although he did not specify which events, it is evident that as a “big brother” of the coup leaders, alongside Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha and Gen. Anupong Paochinda, who seized power from Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, Thaksin’s younger sister, Gen. Prawit played a significant role.
As a result, 40 junta-appointed senators, believed to be close to General Prawit and not supportive of Srettha Thavisin, successfully petitioned to remove Srettha from office, shaking the relationship between the two parties.
Recently, Gen. Prawit has countered the Pheu Thai by appointing former Pheu Thai MP Wan Yubamrung, who recently defected to his party, to oversee political affairs across Bangkok.
Although this appointment is unlikely to have much impact on the Pheu Thai party, as Bangkok has become a stronghold of the Move Forward party, which has since been renamed the People’s Party, the ongoing conflict between Thaksin and Gen. Prawit continues to be a thorn in the side of the new Pheu Thai-led government and Prime Minister Paetongtarn in particular.
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