Two months after Pita Limjaroenrat's party triumphed in Thailand’s May 2023 election, the reformist politician failed to win enough votes in parliament this week to become prime minister. Thursday’s vote came just days after Thailand’s caretaker prime minister and former army chief, Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced his retirement from politics. But the junta chief’s legacy still haunts Thailand’s shaky democracy.
Gone, maybe, but not soon forgotten. As Pita Limjaroenrat, the 42-year-old Harvard graduate who won Thailand’s general election, leaned back in his black leather chair as vote after vote was counted Thursday at a joint session of parliament, did he feel his predecessor’s shadow standing over him? Before the final result was declared, it was already clear – Pita had not won the support he needed to follow former commander-in-chief Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister.
