“I am Pita Limjaroenrat, the next prime minister of Thailand,” the Move Forward Party leader boomed from a campaign truck wedged tight between supporters carrying orange flags, camera phones and a sense of disbelief that the country could be set to exit army control after nearly a decade.
The Harvard-educated 42-year-old said Sunday’s election has given his party the mandate to lead a coalition government, a position backed up by second-placed pro-democracy party Pheu Thai.
Unofficial results say the two main anti-military parties are on track to take nearly 60% of seats in the 500-member Lower House, with Move Forward, the most popular party, ahead of the military-allied rivals who performed poorly.
After nine years of rule by former army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha after he seized power in 2014, Pita’s fans believe he is the telegenic modern leader Thailand needs to change following years of government rule by military generals and their allies.
“I’m so happy,” said a beaming Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, a leading pro-democracy activist, as the winning candidates arrived in open top trucks, booming party slogans and music, at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument.
“The Thai people have a dream — it is to move forward. We need change and now the door is open to it,” she said. “We have to see if the older powers try to close it.”
Like many among the jubilant crowd of thousands who on Monday evening swarmed around Pita’s truck asking for his signature or a selfie, she was referring to the possibility of political retaliation by the conservative army-backed powers.
Court rulings have effectively hobbled multiple pro-democracy parties in the past. And Thailand’s army over the years has resorted to coups when it feels that it has been sidelined from the center of power.
The election results might not be ratified for several weeks, leaving time for the establishment to plot a way to hold onto office, possibly using 250 appointed senators to block a Move Forward majority government or thwart attempts to make Pita prime minister.
But for 16-year-old Belle, a high school student with an orange ribbon in her hair who gave only one name, her future has already been changed by Sunday’s election, in which she was too young to vote.
“I have goosebumps, the country can now change for the better,” she said. “I’m proud of my parents because they normally vote for Pheu Thai, but they changed to Move Forward. The country can start again now.”
Move Forward’s main base is among the young, who like its story of change and policies aimed at cutting the army from power, ending conscription, reducing inequality and reforming the royal defamation law to allow for discussion on the role of the country’s extremely powerful monarchy.
But in Sunday’s election, that sentiment appeared to cross generational lines, even taking root among some old political families that normally guarantee seats for their chosen party in exchange for cabinet posts in government.
“We’re tired of old faces, who have helped only rich people or those under their patronage getting richer while grassroots people have gone nowhere,” said Somboon Taengsee, a 57-year-old housewife in Chonburi, eastern Thailand.
“It’s time we let a new generation of politicians do the work … it’s a gamble, but we have to try.”
Even in Chiang Mai, the stronghold of the Shinawatra political dynasty that leads Pheu Thai, which predicted it would win a “landslide,” seats switched to the upstart Move Forward.
“It totally took us by surprise, especially in my own constituency, because it’s a stronghold of Pheu Thai party,” said 23-year-old Warantorn Wongpratang. “Now we will wait and see if the Move Forward Party follows through on its promises.”
But, like many in a country where an election win does not guarantee taking power, she voices a note of caution.
“Today, the people are in a very good mood — but we are also prepared for unexpected outcomes.”
