Will Thailand’s next PM be decided by the reformist opposition?

Demonstrators wearing accessories and face paint in the colours of Thailand’s national flag hold a sign reading ‘No prime minister from the Pheu Thai Party’ during a protest in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Thailand ’s protracted political crisis has taken another messy turn as the conservative establishment, seeking to break a parliamentary deadlock after the ousting of yet another prime minister, reaches out to the very reformists it once sidelined.

The People’s Party, whose bold pro-democracy agenda electrified voters at the last general election but unnerved the country’s elite, now seemingly holds the keys to the country’s next government.

Her dismissal, the second such ousting of a Pheu Thai prime minister in as many years, has left Thailand with a weakened caretaker government scrambling for a path forward.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra (centre) speaks at a news conference on Friday to address her removal from office. Photo: EPA
Paetongtarn Shinawatra (centre) speaks at a news conference on Friday to address her removal from office. Photo: EPA
Now, in a bid to secure enough votes to install its candidate Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister, the conservative bloc – led by the Bhumjaithai Party – has begun courting the People’s Party.

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