Thailand’s Pheu Thai party joins with pro-military parties in coalition

Thailand’s populist Pheu Thai party announced Monday that it plans to form a new government with an 11-party coalition that includes two pro-military parties affiliated with outgoing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Parliament is expected to confirm the country’s 30th prime minister later today after a three-month stalemate following elections in May.
Pheu Thai leader Chonlanan Srikaew said the coalition partners have agreed to nominate real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin as the new leader.
Pheu Thai finished second in the elections but received a chance to form a government after members of the conservative unelected Senate repeatedly blocked the surprise winner, the progressive Move Forward Party.
Both houses of Parliament vote together for the prime minister under the military-implemented constitution, in an arrangement designed to protect conservative military-backed rule.
Many Senate members, appointed by a Prayuth-led military government, opposed Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister because of his party’s call for reform of a law that makes it illegal to defame Thailand’s royal family.
Critics say the law, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, has been abused as a political weapon. Senators, like the army, see themselves as guardians of traditional conservative royalist values.
Pheu Thai then excluded Move Forward from its coalition, saying the party’s call for a reform of the royal defamation law made it impossible to gather enough support from other parties and the Senate to approve a new prime minister.