The eight-party coalition announces ambitious plans for reform but makes no mention of a divisive royal insult law.
Thailand’s progressive Progressive Party has signed an agreement with seven other parties to draft a new constitution, end monopolies and allow same-sex marriage if allowed to form a government, but has made no mention of a proposal controversial to review royal insult laws.
The 23-point agreement, presented on Monday, outlines the coalition’s plans and policy priorities as it seeks support among lawmakers to form a government after nine years of conservative, military-backed rule.
Move Forward, along with Pheu Thai, a populist party linked to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, dominated last week’s election in a resounding rejection of the military-backed royalist parties that have controlled the country since the coup been in 2014.
“This is another historic moment that shows we can transform government to democracy peacefully,” said Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who wants to become Thailand’s next prime minister. “The purpose of this memorandum of understanding is to collect the agenda that all parties agree and are willing to push forward to the government and parliament.”
The signing took place on the ninth anniversary of the military coup that brought army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha to power.
Move Forward was the surprise winner of the May 14 election, emerging with a majority of seats in parliament with the help of young voters enthusiastic about an agenda that puts the party at odds with some conservative business interests and institutions , including a plan to modify a lease. majesty law that punishes perceived insults of the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison. Critics of the law say Prayuth’s government has used it to stifle dissent.
But members of the Move Forward alliance have expressed reservations, and Monday’s agreement did not include a proposal to reform that law.
Instead, he affirmed the country’s status as a democracy under a framework of constitutional monarchy and the inviolable status of the monarch.
Pita said on Monday that he did not think his party’s independent bid to push through reform of the lese majeste laws would delay the upper house, whose support the coalition needs to appoint a prime minister and form a government.
The eight-party coalition controls 313 seats in the lower house, a strong majority, but that is not enough to ensure it can take power. Under the military-drafted constitution, the prime minister is selected by a joint vote of the lower house and the Senate, whose 250 members were appointed by the post-coup military government. This means that the winning candidate needs at least 376 votes.
Several senators have said they will not vote for Pita because of the lese majeste issue.
Pita said he has a team to explain how Move Forward plans to amend the law “so it can’t be used as a political tool” and “this will ease the concerns of senators.”
The coalition deal includes most of Move Forward’s flagship policies, including drafting a new, more democratic constitution, passing a same-sex marriage law, decentralizing administrative power and the transition from conscription to voluntary enlistment “except when the country is at war.” .
It calls for reforms of the police, the army, the civil service and the justice process, the abolition of business monopolies, especially in the production of beer and other alcohol, and the restoration of controls on the production and sale of marijuana after the poorly executed de facto decriminalization in Thailand. course
It also seeks welfare and education reform, as well as a balanced foreign policy that revives Thailand’s role as a leader in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
It states that “all parties have the right to advocate for additional policies as long as they do not conflict with the policies described in this agreement.”
