Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the Move Forward party, who almost became Thailand’s 30th prime minister, has been included on Time magazine’s “TIME100 Next” list for 2023.
Pita is the only Thai listed by the US-based magazine among leaders whom they identify as shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership.
The list is divided into five categories: Artists, Phenoms, Innovators, Advocates and Leaders.
“The only thing more stunning than Pita Limjaroenrat’s election victory was the radical agenda he ran on to achieve it,” according to Time’s Charlie Campbell.
The Harvard graduate’s upstart Move Forward Party secured 38% of the votes in Thailand’s May 14th polls, by promising to bridle the nation’s armed forces and the revered royal institution, scrapping its controversial royal-defamation law and ending military conscription.
“But the byzantine nature of Thai democracy means Pita’s path to power has been blocked by an unelected Senate and a flurry of legal challenges,” wrote Campbell.
Pita said his political awakening began in New Zealand, where he was sent to school as a young man. Today, the father of one may not be prime minister at his first attempt, but the reformist movement he leads promises to keep building momentum, especially among young Thais.
“I’m proud of what we have achieved,” Pita says. “We can do a lot more to provide checks and balances in parliament and speak on behalf of the people.”
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the now-defunct Future Forward Party, the predecessor of Move Forward, made the list in the same category in 2019.
