“Regarding the voting results,I have to say that we accepted it,but we will not give up,” Limjaroenrat said.

“We won’t give up just yet. We’ll spend time to strategise how to consolidate votes for the next round.”

During a six-hour joint sitting preceding the poll,there was furious debate about Move Forward’s electoral pledge to press for changes to Thailand’s draconian royal defamation laws,under which insults of the monarchy can be punished with 15 years’ jail per count. One MP even suggested that the law be toughened to permit those who disparaged the monarchy to be shot.

Limjaroenrat already faced significant obstacles in becoming Thailand’s leader because of a legal case brought against him over claims he broke electoral rules by inheriting shares in a long defunct media company from his late father.

On the eve of the vote,the country’s election commission referred the case to the constitutional court,which is also examining a complaint against Move Forward over its plan to amend the lese-majeste law,the notorious section 112 of the Thai criminal code that covers defaming the royals.

Limjaroenrat can contest another leadership vote in parliament next week. But Thursday’s outcome was a huge setback for his aspirations to upend the political order and for the democratic trajectory in Thailand.

“There was a weight of optimism that the very strong expression of the people’s will might have swayed the political establishment,but I think that was probably always a little wishful,” said Greg Raymond,a lecturer in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University.

“It’s difficult to see that anything is going to change between now and next week. There is no way that MFP[Move Forward] are going to back down on[section] 112.”

The count leaves Thailand in limbo,with its military-backed government remaining in caretaker mode.

Prayut,who has led Thailand in the near decade since the coup,announced on Tuesday he would retire from politics,but a lengthy stalemate may open the door to his successors in the armed forces taking a familiar path.

“I think there is a protracted period where Thailand doesn’t have any government;these are the sorts of conditions in which you get coups,” Raymond said.

The rejection of Limjaroenrat’s leadership tilt may also trigger a resumption of civil unrest three years after the constitutional court’s dissolution of opposition party Future Forward – a precursor to Move Forward – sparked mass youth-led protests in which demonstrators called for royal reform.

Backing for Limjaroenrat is overwhelming in Bangkok in particular,with Move Forward having won 32 of the 33 seats in the capital,and the party’s orange-clad supporters gathered outside parliament on Thursday night.

With Reuters

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