Thailand election 2023: Move Forward, Pheu Thai bullish on bringing country back to democracy, ousting army in tight vote

Move Forward’s Pita Limjaroenrat and Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra hope young voters wearied by inequality and coups would help wrest power from conservatives

But Prime Minister Prayuth is in no mood to give them walkover in Sunday’s election in which he has cast himself as the keeper of true Thai values taking on young iconoclasts railing against the monarchy

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Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat speaks during an election campaign event in Bangkok on May 12. Photo: SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Published: 2:00pm, 13 May 2023

“The land is orange” is the hashtag accompanying the final days before Sunday’s Thai election, a bullish reference to the colours and prospects of Move Forward, the party of the young, idealistic and angry, who hope to deliver a devastating verdict at the polls on a near decade of military rule.

“This is the moment, change is coming,” said Rangsiman Rome, whom has relentlessly nagged, nibbled and humiliated the military-backed government as a Move Forward MP, with exposes of alleged corruption, nepotism and incompetence, later chopped up and devoured over social media by the party’s fans.

Some of those followers are now sharing TikTok tips on what to wear when they vote on Sunday, and everything is orange: headbands, sunglasses, earrings and crop tops.

Move Forward is polling second, but it is hoping to scoop in support from beyond its urban youth base with its radical calls for the army to be excised from power, dominant monopolies to be curbed and reform of the laws protecting the powerful monarchy from criticism.

Together with poll leading Pheu Thai, the rural-focused vehicle of the Shinawatra political dynasty which easily wins most seats in Thai elections, there is a strong likelihood that antimilitary parties will decimate the conservative vote in Sunday’s poll.