A legal challenge is waiting for Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward Party, who is tipped to be the country’s next prime minister after his party emerged as the winner of Sunday’s general election.
Last week, political activist Ruangkrai Leekitwattana filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC), claiming that Pita is violating the Constitution, which prohibits owners or shareholders of media firms from running for political office.
Ruangkrai asked the EC to disqualify and remove Pita from the race because Pita holds 42,000 shares in ITV Plc, which is a media firm.
ITV was Thailand’s first independent broadcaster, set up in the aftermath of the May 1992 uprising and ceased operations in 2007.
According to documents released by the ISRA News Agency, however, ITV is still an active media company engaged in radio broadcasting and operating an advertising business via its website.
The company reportedly earned Bt21 million in revenue last year.
On the ITV shareholder list of shareholders attending a meeting held in April last year, Pita was shareholder 7138 with 42,000 shares, according to the ISRA News Agency.
Pita has argued that the shares were under his name because he is the executor of his father’s will.
He claims he submitted information about his ownership of the shares to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in 2019, but he is unsure whether they were in the first or subsequent submissions.
His 2019 asset declaration contains no mention of the shares.
The ISRA News Agency concluded on Monday that Pita actually holds the ITV Plc shares and ITV is still active as it has submitted financial statements every year.
