Thailand in turmoil as king moves to block sister from entering presidential elections
A schism opened in Thailand's royal family on Friday after the king vetoed an unprecedented political intervention by his eldest sister, who announced a run for prime minister against the ruling military junta.
The candidacy announced by Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, the daughter of the late king Bhumibol, earlier in the day would represent one of the biggest political shake-ups in Thailand's history. No Thai royal has ever taken part in an election and the country's lese majeste laws make criticism of the monarchy close to impossible.
Thais had widely assumed that her bid had the blessing of her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn. But late on Friday, he unexpectedly condemned the move as "inappropriate and unconstitutional".
"To bring a senior royal family member into the political system is against royal traditions and the nation's culture... it is inappropriate," a statement in the Royal Gazette said.
The princess's electoral challenge would upset the traditional form of politics in the country of 70 million people, where royalist and military elites, known as “yellow shirts”, have competed with ‘red shirt’ supporters of former prime minister and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra.
"The princess vs. the general is something completely new for Thai politics, which makes it both fascinating and unpredictable," said Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Asian Power and Diplomacy Programme at the Lowy Institute a think-tank based in Sydney.
The 67-year-old princess has registered under the Thai Raksa Chart party, a party linked to Thaksin’s own, in what could be a blow to Junta hopes to maintain control of the country after the general election on March 24.
But it is thought that in light of the king's intervention, she is likely to be disqualified by the country's electoral commission.
The election is the first since the military seized power in 2014, unseating Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Yingluck is currently on the run having been convicted of abuse of power by the Constitutional Court of Thailand in absentia for the 2011 removal of Thawil Pliensri as national security chief.
The Shinawatra siblings are as adored by the rural poor as they loathed by the junta and Bangkok elite. The coup in 2014 was brought about after an attempt to pass a bill that would pave the way for Thaksin’s return.
Thailand’s lese majeste laws forbid any criticism of the widely-revered royal family and related institutions.
Prosecutions under lese-majeste laws have doubled since 2014 with one man sentenced to 70 years in prison for posting online videos and photos seen as defamatory of the royal family.
If the princess's candidacy does proceed, such restrictions will likely hamper the re-election campaign of the the incumbent prime minister, 64-year-old former general Prayut Chan-O-Cha.
For almost five years Prayut has led the junta, which has been scripting a new constitution in a bid to ensure the army retains power after the elections in March.
Princess Ubolratana relinquished her royal titles when she married an American, a fellow student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She divorced him after 26 years in 1998 and moved back to Thailand three years later.
