Thailand’s Pita Limjaroenrat failed to secure his initial bid for the Prime Minister’s office on Thursday. He was derailed by a high-stakes parliamentary vote that featured many no-shows and almost 200 abstentions. Despite support from his eight-party alliance, the leader of the Move Forward party was unable to secure 375 votes in the bicameral parliament. Pita’s party and its ally Pheu Thai are considered progressive and berated conservative pro-military parties during the May 14 election. The Move Forward party seeks to remove the military from political affairs and curb business monopolies. Thailand’s government was backed by the royalist military for almost a decade, and many members of the upper house Senate were appointed during the 2014 military coup.
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