As Thai students step up protests, is PM Prayuth Chan-ocha’s grip weakening?

The army-backed premier, who survived a no-confidence motion on Friday, has faced criticism over the dissolution of the Future Forward party

The question now is whether the power brokers in Thailand’s royalist establishment decide fresh leadership is needed to restore control

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Pro-democracy students at a rally in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00pm, 28 Feb 2020Updated: 6:00pm, 28 Feb 2020

Thailand’s military-backed Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is reeling from a flurry of student protests and parliamentary attacks after the enforced break up of a popular pro-democracy party.

The barrage of criticism in the past week after the Constitutional Court disbanded the Future Forward party threatens to weaken Prayuth’s grip on power. The 65-year-old leader of the 2014 coup transformed into an elected ruler after last year’s disputed general election, which was held under a charter crafted during his junta’s tenure.

The question now is whether the power brokers in Thailand’s royalist establishment decide fresh leadership is needed to restore control and stabilise an economy that is slumping because of the coronavirus outbreak, delayed public spending and a severe drought.

“This could be the beginning of the end for Prayuth,” said Prajak Kongkirati, head of politics at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, who has researched and analysed Thailand for more than two decades. “It’s up to the establishment how long they would be willing to support a premier that is highly unpopular.”

Some Future Forward lawmakers switched allegiance to a party in the ruling coalition after the dissolution, strengthening the government in the legislature by expanding its previously slim majority.

But Prayuth has also been forced to rebut fierce denunciations. They began last weekend when banned Future Forward executives alleged the premier helped Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak in the cover up of the 1MDB financial scandal. A Thai government spokesman denied the claims.