On May 18, leader of Thailand's March Forward Party (MFP) Pita Limjaroenrat said that his party will work with seven other political parties to form a coalition that can form a government .
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| Mr. Pita, leader of the Forward Party, the party that won the Thai election on May 14. (Source: Bloomberg) |
This eight-party coalition includes the Forward Party, Pheu Thai, Thai Sang Thai, Thai Liberal, Prachachart, Fair, Plung Sungkom Mai and Peu Thai Ruamphalang.
Together with the 152 seats won by the Forward Party, Mr. Pita's planned eight-party coalition will have a total of 313 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives.
This number is enough for the Tien Buoc-led coalition to gain a majority in the House of Representatives, but not enough to ensure that Mr. Pita will be elected as Thailand's 30th prime minister if he does not have the support of at least 376 votes in the National Assembly (including the House of Representatives and 250 senators appointed by the military).
Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Pita said that the eight parties will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the details of which will be announced on May 22. Mr. Pita will also form a committee to effectively continue the work of the outgoing government.
Earlier, on the evening of May 17, the Thai Pride Party (Bhumjaithai), which won the third most seats in the general election on May 14 with 70 seats, announced that it would not support Mr. Pita as the country's next prime minister because it believed that the Forward Party's policy was to amend or even abolish the lese majeste law.
The Thai Pride Party also called on the potential coalition led by the Forward Party to respect the voices of minority parties, in line with democratic rules, instead of pressuring opposition parties to meet their demands.
According to the Thai Pride Party, more than 5 million voters support the party, wanting it to protect the monarchy.
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