Pita Limjaroenrat

Pita Limjaroenrat ( th, พิธา ลิ้มเจริญรัตน์, , ; born 5 September 1980), nicknamed Tim ( th, ทิม), is a Thai politician and businessman. A member of the House of Representatives, Pita is the leader of the Move Forward Party, the ''de facto'' successor to the dissolved Future Forward Party.

Pita led Move Forward to become the largest party in the 2023 general election, winning 151 seats. He hoped to be elected prime minister of Thailand. In the first round of parliamentary voting on 13 July 2023, he was unsuccessful. Later on 19 July, he was suspended from being a MP by the Constitutional Court over shares of defunct broadcaster ITV. Pita's second nomination on the same day was blocked by the National Assembly. The Move Forward Party ultimately joined the opposition following a dispute with their initial collation member the Pheu Thai party. Pita remains under suspension, unable to stand for PM.

Early life and education

Pita was born on 5 September 1980, the eldest son of Pongsak Limjaroenrat, a former adviser to the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Linda Limjaroenrat. He is the nephew of Padung Limjaroenrat, a former secretary to the Interior Minister and a close aide of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pita attended the Bangkok Christian College before being sent to Hamilton, New Zealand, by his father at the age of 11. There he lived with a middle-class host family, doing part-time jobs such as delivering newspapers and milk to earn money. His interest in politics developed while watching the limited amount of television channels in Hamilton, which were either Australian soap operas or parliamentary debates. Due to his dislike of Australian soap operas, he began to listen to speeches given by then-Prime Minister of New Zealand Jim Bolger.

After graduating from secondary school in New Zealand, Pita went back to Thailand and pursued a bachelor's degree in finance from the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy in Thammasat University where he graduated in 2002 with first-class honors and got a scholarship to study at the University of Texas at Austin. He later received an international student scholarship from Harvard University, becoming the first Thai student to do so. He completed a joint Master of Public Policy degree in the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration degree in the Sloan School of Management of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011.

Business career

At the age of 25, Pita returned to Thailand to take over as managing director of CEO Agrifood, a rice bran oil business run by his family, after the death of his father. The company was able to regain its foothold two years after and allowed Pita to return to the United States where he finished his master's degree in 2011.

He also served as the executive director of Grab Thailand from 2017 to 2018.

Political career

Member of the House of Representatives

Pita initially joined as a member of Future Forward Party ( th, พรรคอนาคตใหม่, ). Upon the invitation of party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, he accepted the offer to become a candidate in the 2019 Thai general election and won a seat in the House of Representatives as the fourth party-list representative for his party.

In July 2019, he delivered a speech in the House of Representatives where he discussed about the "Five-Button Theory" which called on the government to focus on the following agricultural policies: land ownership, farmers' debts, cannabis, agro-tourism, and water resources. Despite belonging to another party, his speech was praised by Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda.

Two weeks after the dissolution of his party by the Constitutional Court on 21 February 2020, he was named as the new leader of the newly formed Move Forward Party ( th, พรรคก้าวไกล, ), where he was joined by 54 other members of parliament (MPs) from the disbanded party, and was formally elected on 14 March 2020.

2023 general election

Pita led the Move Forward Party into the 2023 general election, in which they won the largest number of seats (151). Many observers considered the win to be an upset, as the Pheu Thai party was believed to be the frontrunner. On 15 May 2023, he declared that he was ready to become prime minister after his party received the most votes, and invited the Pheu Thai Party and a number of smaller parties to form a coalition government. Pita and his coalition partners held a press conference to on 22 May, emphasizing issues such as drafting a new constitution through members of the Constituent Assembly, military reforms, voluntary conscription, same-sex marriage, and the decentralization of the economy among other issues. Pita later stated that he utilized campaign strategies inspired by Barack Obama’s 2008 US presidential election campaign. Despite securing a majority in the House with coalition partners, Pita required the votes of MPs and unelected senators previously appointed by the military junta combined in order to be elected Prime Minister.

On 9 June, the Election Commission (EC) threw out three complaints against Pita for his ownership of television broadcaster iTV, a unit of Shin Corporation, formerly owned by exiled former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra. The constitution forbids a media organisation shareholder from running in a general election. The commission instead began a criminal case into whether Pita ran for office knowing that he was ineligible, a breach of Section 42(3) and Section 151 of the organic law on the election of MPs. According to Pita, he inherited the shares from the estate of his father. iTV ceased broadcasting in 2007, and was delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 2014. It had not generated media-related income in years, with the exception of small amounts from a subsidiary that rented broadcasting equipment. He was among the 500 MPs endorsed by the EC on 19 June, although the commission's investigation of him continued.

Attempts to form a government

Following the general election and subsequent coalition announcement, the House of Representatives held its first session on 5 July to select a Speaker, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, founder of the coalition-member party, the Prachachat Party. In the days preceding the premiership vote, Pita and the MFP party held rallies with supporters in Bangkok. Pita appealed to the assembly to support his government, in accordance with the mandate granted by the people in the general election.

On 12 July, the Constitutional Court said it had accepted a complaint against Pita and the Move Forward Party by the Election Commission, that said its plan to reform lèse-majesté laws amounted to an attempt to "overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state". The Commission referred Pita for disqualification as an MP; Pita called the process unfair, and said he wasn’t allowed to defend himself before the decision. The day before the parliamentary vote, Pita warned assembly members that there would be a “high price” if his premiership was denied.

On 13 July the National Assembly convened to elect a new Prime Minister. Initially nominated by Pheu Thai leader Dr. Chonlanan Srikaew, Pita was the only member of the assembly to be put forward. Despite securing a majority-coalition in the lower house, Pita was unable to win enough votes from the assembly in the first ballot, particularly the 250 members of the Senate, appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order in May 2019, to become the country's next prime minister. 324 members of the National Assembly voted to approve Pita’s premiership (311 of which were MPs and 13 of which were junta-appointed senators), 182 disapproved and 199 abstained. Of the 705 votes, Pita fell 51 votes short of a majority, as he required 375 votes in order to be appointed Prime Minister. Subsequent protests occurred in the evening following the vote; the voting system was criticized for being undemocratic, and contradictory to the mandate given by the people. The failure of the National Assembly to produce a Prime Minister led to Thai stocks underperforming. The newspaper Khaosod described the vote as a ‘trap set in advance.’ Despite this, Pita said he would still pursue the role of prime minister, and would not back down on his promise to reform the lèse-majesté law.

Protests continued, with many demanding that the senators resign. On July 15, Pita announced his coalition had agreed to put his name forward for the next round of voting, but also said he was ready to allow a member of the Pheu Thai party to be nominated if his second bid were to be unsuccessful, or if he would be unable to gain significantly more votes than the previous ballot. On 19 July the National Assembly convened to elect a new Prime Minister for a second time following the general election. On the same day, the Constitutional Court unamimously voted to accept a case against Pita regarding his inherited shares of the defunct iTV. They also voted 7–2 to suspend him from MP duty until it reached a ruling, but it not preclude him from being nominated for prime minister. During the assembly proceedings, Pita announced he would acknowledge the decision, and left the chamber. In the subsequent debate, the National Assembly voted against considering him for another round of voting for Prime Minister. Pita was nominated by Pheu Thai MP Suthin Klangsaeng, but the proposal was argued to have been against a parliamentary rule prohibiting a repeat motion. In the voting for his renomination, 312 voters supported, 394 rejected—most of which were senators—eight abstained and one (Pita) did not vote.

In opposition

In accordance with the vote in the assembly, Pita cannot stand for Prime Minister until a new session after the next general election. Pita remained under suspension as an MP, but initially signaled his support for a Pheu Thai party PM candidate. On 2 August 2023, Move Forward and Pheu Thai split, as Pheu Thai pulled out of the original coalition to form one of their own. The Pheu Thai party pulled back on their election pledge to not join with pro-junta parties, and the Move Forward party refused to rescind their own election pledge to reform the Lèse-majesté law.

On 22 August, Pheu Thai candidate Srettha Thavisin won the 2nd prime ministership election in the National Assembly of Thailand. All present (149) MFP members voted against Thavisin's bid for Prime Minister. Following Srettha’s election as prime minister, Pita gave him a congratulatory phone call.

On 20 August 2023, Pita began campaigning for the Move Forward party in the run-up to the by-election in Constituency 3 of Rayong Province, which will be contested by the Move Forward, Democrat and Nation Building Labour party, following the resignation of the Move Forward MP elected there.

Political positions

Pita has been described as a progressive by the standards of Thai politics. His Move Forward Party, which he has led since 2020, has been referred to as center-left and progressive.

In an interview with CNA, Pita said he was inspired by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, and has compared politics to a marathon rather than a sprint, saying “I have the stamina to run for a long time.” Pita has frequently referred to the years between 2014 and 2023 as “the lost decade” of Thailand, in regards to both economics and democratic backsliding. Pita believes the Thai armed services have too much influence in civilian politics, and has vowed to decrease their influence. Pita also said that Thailand must “demilitarize”. Pita has promised that his party would amend the controversial Royal defamation law, which protects the Thai monarchy from public criticism. On economic policy, Pita believes in the demonopolization, and decentralization of the economy. He has said he would liberalize Thailand's liquor industry.

Pita supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and has attended a pride parade in Bangkok. Pita also believes in voluntary conscription for military service.

Pita has centered his foreign policy on his “3Rs”, ‘Revive, Rebalance, and Recalibrate’. He also stated that Thailand should be more assertive on the global stage and open more dialogue with greater powers, and that democratic values should be the core of Thailand’s foreign policy. Pita has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine calling the Thai government’s response “two-faced”.

Personal life

Pita married actress Chutima Teepanart on 12 December 2012. The couple divorced in March 2019. Chutima publicly alleged that Pita had been controlling and abusing her during their marriage. Women's rights and pro-democracy activists called for Pita to respond to the allegations. Chutima filed a lawsuit against Pita alleging bodily abuse, but it was dismissed as false by the family court. Afterwards, she said, "Violence may not have been an issue, but he did harm me psychologically." She has since downplayed the allegations and expressed support for his political ambitions. They have one daughter.

In addition to his native Thai, Pita speaks English.

In 2008, he was named as one of '' CLEO Thailand''s "50 Most Eligible Bachelors".

Notes

References

External links

Pita Limjaroenrat
on National Assembly of Thailand HRIS website

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Harvard Kennedy School alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
1980 births
Living people
Pita Limjaroenrat
Thai expatriates in New Zealand
Thai expatriates in the United States