By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
"Today is a new day, and hopefully it is full of bright sunshine and hope," 42 year old Pita Limjaroenrat remarked to a room filled with reporters and flashing cameras last year, shortly after his Move Forward party achieved a surprising and remarkable victory in Thailand's elections.
However, a year later, his political career was abruptly ended. Thailand's constitutional court banned him from politics for 10 years on Wednesday and ordered the dissolution of his party. Pita had been reinstated as an MP only in January 2024, after winning a trial that supporters claimed was designed to terminate his political career. The establishment attempted to disqualify him from parliament due to his ownership of shares in a long defunct media company.
In the May 2023 elections, voters awarded Move Forward more seats and votes than any other party, rejecting nearly a decade of army backed rule a significant feat in a country that has experienced at least a dozen successful coups. "The sentiment of the era has changed. And it was the right timing," Pita stated at the party's headquarters in Bangkok, where it had secured 32 of the city's 33 seats. Despite this mandate, Thailand's unelected senate blocked the charismatic politician from becoming prime minister.
Still, Pita and his reformist party garnered strong support among young voters disillusioned by years of military rule and eager for change. He began his political career in 2019 when he was elected to parliament as a member of the Future Forward Party. Founded by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a billionaire and vocal critic of the army, Future Forward performed well in the 2019 election, disrupting Thai politics with its call for reform. However, the party was forced to disband the following year after contentious allegations, which its leaders claimed were politically motivated, and Thanathorn was disqualified as an MP. Move Forward was soon formed as its successor, naming Pita as its new leader.
In 2021, thousands of young people took to the streets in Thailand following Future Forward's dissolution, demanding constitutional amendments, a new election, and an end to the harassment of rights activists and state critics. This desire for change fueled Move Forward's appeal in the 2023 election, with some protest leaders from 2020 running as candidates. Pita, once dubbed a "rising star" of the Thai parliament for his critical speeches as an opposition MP, gained popularity with his party's bold promises to reduce the military's political influence and reform monarchy related laws. He aimed to rewrite the constitution and vowed to lead Thailand out of what he termed a "lost decade" under military rule. In a campaign interview with Bloomberg, Pita outlined his priorities for Thailand, "demilitarise, demonopolise, and decentralise."
By challenging Thailand's lèse majesté laws and confronting the military's influence, Pita positioned himself against the monarchy and the military aligned elite.
Born to a wealthy Thai family involved in politics, Pita's father served as an adviser in the agriculture ministry, and his uncle was an aide to former ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Pita attended school in New Zealand, where he developed an interest in politics. "I got shipped to the middle of nowhere in New Zealand, and there were three TV channels back then. Either you watch Australian soap operas, or you watch the debates in parliament," he recounted to the Thai YouTube programme Aim Hour in February 2023.
Pita graduated with a bachelor's degree in finance from Bangkok's Thammasat University, a master's in public policy from Harvard University, and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He described himself as "an American product of public policy schools." He began his career in business, taking over his late father's rice bran oil company and later serving as an executive director of the ride hailing company Grab Thailand.
Pita was married to Thai actress model Chutima Teenpanart, but the couple divorced in 2019. He is now a single father to seven year old Pipim, whom he brought to Move Forward's rallies.
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