Move Forward will oust ‘military-led parties’ and help form new govt: Pita
Move Forward will never ally with “military-led parties”, its leader Pita Limjaroenrat told Nation Group on Tuesday, adding that the party is currently “in the best shape ever”.
During an open forum at Nation Group headquarters in Bangkok, the Move Forward leader introduced all 33 candidates for Bangkok constituencies and announced the party’s policies and its stance on forming a new government after the May 14 general election.
“Move Forward is willing to ally with the current opposition parties, as they have the best answers to the challenges,” said Pita, a former party-list MP of the now-defunct Future Forward Party. “However, we will never ally with the so-called military-led parties, namely Palang Pracharath (PPRP) and United Thai Nation (UTN) parties.”
PPRP and UTN have nominated General Prawit Wongsuwan and General Prayut Chan-o-cha, respectively, as their prime ministerial candidates.
“If the new Cabinet contains either Gen Prayut or Gen Prawit, I will definitely not be in it,” Pita said.
He added that according to the polls, the current opposition parties should be able to win enough seats to form a new government, which would be the “suitable” solution for Thai politics. Move Forward’s main opposition partner is Pheu Thai.
Pita also highlighted his party’s policy of rewriting the Constitution to remove the military from politics, eliminate monopolistic business conditions and promote SMEs, and decentralise administrative power to local communities.
“We have policies that address the needs of the new generation, such as scrapping mandatory conscription and allowing same-sex marriage,” said Pita. “At the same time, we are also catering to older citizens with senior allowances, land reformation, and debt restructuring policies.”
Responding to recent polls indicating that Move Forward is rising in popularity, Pita said: “Our party is in the best shape ever. Move Forward is not focused on only Bangkok, we are also prioritising rural areas and the needs of both young and older generation people. We are truly a party for all Thais.”
Nation Poll on Tuesday published the results of its first opinion survey, showing Pheu Thai leading as the most popular party in both constituency and party-list elections, followed by the Move Forward Party and UTN. However, some 30% of nearly 40,000 respondents were still undecided about which party to choose.
In the prime ministerial candidate poll, Pheu Thai’s Paetongtarn Shinawatra topped the ranking with 33.81%, followed by Pita (16.84%) and General Prayut (8.13%), while 22.58% were still undecided.
