Thai election jockeying heats up as PM joins new party

Bloomberg

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha joined a new party as he looks for ways to extend his eight-year rule despite term limits, signaling shifting alliances and a ramp up in political jockeying ahead of elections slated for May.
On Monday, Prayuth became a member of the newly-formed Ruamthai Sarngchart party, which has pledged to name the former army chief as its candidate for prime minister. The move completes his split with the military-backed Palang Pracharath party that backed his bid for the top job four years ago.
“There’s work to be finished and that’s why I must step up to do this,” Prayuth said after signing up to become a member of Ruamthai, also known as the United Thai Nation party. “I’m here not because I want to stay but because Thailand has to carry on.”
The former coup-leader is maneuvering to stay in power despite a steady decline in his popularity and a constitutional term limit that allows him to stay as prime minister just two more years.
He is counting on the support of the 250-member Senate, stacked with allies from the military establishment, who have until 2024 the power to vote alongside the Lower House and select the prime minister. In the 2019 election, the Senate kept at bay the opposition Pheu Thai party linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier ousted in an earlier coup and whose sister was later prime minister until the 2014 putsch led by Prayuth.
“Shifting alliances is normal in Thai politics but it’s more intense this time around, as the electoral rules have changed significantly and the contest is centered around whether to keep Prayuth in power,” said Yuttaporn Issarachai, a political scientist at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. “After more than eight years of the military establishment, the stakes are higher now.”
Thailand is expected to hold general elections in May with the 500-member House of Representatives set to complete its term on March 23. A slew of electoral changes, including a return to a two-ballot system and a drop in party-list lawmakers, will give larger political parties like Palang Pracharath and Pheu Thai an upper hand.
Prayuth went looking for a new political vehicle after Palang Pracharath signaled it would back its leader and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan for the top job. There was discontent within Palang Pracharath and the 16-party coalition it leads with much of this to do with Prayuth’s unpopularity and opinion polls showing Pheu Thai would bag the most seats in the elections.
“Removing Prayuth from the equation will help Prawit put an end to faction wars within Palang Pracharath and open the door for him to broker deals with other parties more conveniently,” Yuttaporn said. “The two can’t ever be in conflict, because if that happens, it will be the end of the military’s grip on politics.”