Leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who used to lead Thailand’s Move Forward Party, stepped down as the party leader on Friday. This happened a few months after he won a surprising election by promising to make big changes in the government, which worried the people in charge.
In the May election, Move Forward Party did really well and beat the parties supported by the military and the royalists, who are big supporters of the king. But they couldn’t form a government because the conservative members of parliament didn’t allow it.
Now, Move Forward Party is the biggest opposition group in parliament. They won most of the seats in and around Bangkok and other important cities.
Pita Limjaroenrat, who went to Harvard University, tried twice to become the prime minister, but the military-appointed senators didn’t let him. They didn’t like that Move Forward Party wanted to change a law that protects the king from criticism.
Pita said on Facebook that he wants to give other lawmakers a chance to be the opposition leader, but he will keep working with Move Forward Party and the people.
Pita is known for being a strong candidate for prime minister before the election, but he had to face a lot of legal problems that he says were meant to stop him from becoming the prime minister. Right now, he can’t be in parliament because of a court case about his shares in a media company that broke election rules. Pita says he’s innocent.
Pita Limjaroenrat is the only Thai person on Time magazine’s “TIME100 Next” list for 2023. This list is for young leaders from around the world who are making a difference. Time magazine divides the list into five categories, and Pita is in the “Leaders” category.
Time magazine said that Pita’s election win and his promises for change were remarkable. His party got 38% of the vote in the May 14 election by promising to control the military, change a law that protects the king, and end military service. But because of how Thailand’s government works, Pita faced many challenges to become the prime minister.
Pita’s interest in politics started when he was a child and went to school in New Zealand. He’s proud of what he has achieved, and he wants to do more in parliament to make sure the government listens to the people.
In the past, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who led the Future Forward Party before Move Forward Party, also made it to Time magazine’s list in 2019. Other notable Thai people on the list in the past include Lalisa Manobal from the K-pop group Blackpink and Kotchakorn Voraakhom, the designer of the popular Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park.
