Key Thai Party Won’t Join Pita’s Coalition Over Monarchy Stance

Bhumjaithai, with 70 seats, won’t back Pita for prime minister
Stance is an early setback in Move Forward’s coalition talks

Pita Limjaroenrat, center, following a meeting with coalition partners in Bangkok, on May 17.Photographer: James Wilson/Bloomberg

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By Philip Heijmans and Patpicha Tanakasempipat

May 18, 2023 at 3:29 AM UTC

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The bid of Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of Thailand’s opposition group Move Forward, to form a coalition government hit a setback when a key political party said it won’t back a prime minister who wants to relax the law against criticizing the monarchy.

The Bhumjaithai Party, which came in third in Sunday’s vote with about 70 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives, said Wednesday night that it would rather stand in the opposition than be part of a coalition led by a party that wants to amend Article 112. That’s Thailand’s “lese majeste” law that can put offenders in jail for as many as 15 years if convicted of royal insults.