Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Varnavadi, 67, the elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, was nominated by a party associated with the Shinawatra political family, which includes two fugitive former prime ministers who have been accused of subverting the power of Thailand’s royal institutions.
Calling Ubolratana “an educated and skilled person” who was the “most suitable choice,” Preechapol Pongpanich, leader of the Thai Raksa Chart Party, announced her candidacy Friday but cautioned that the choice still had to be accepted by Thailand’s election commission.
Thailand has been under military rule since a coup in 2014 unseated forces loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, a brash billionaire who challenged the country’s traditional power structure. The country is now led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general and junta chief who has fashioned himself as a fierce defender of Thailand’s monarchy.
On Friday, Prayuth also announced his candidacy for prime minister, backed by the military’s proxy Palang Pracharat Party.
“Although I have served as a soldier for all my life, I am willing to sacrifice myself in order to protect Thailand,” Prayuth said in a statement.
National elections are scheduled for March 24, after repeated delays by Thailand’s junta. A military-drafted constitution ensures that the country’s next prime minister will be chosen by a Parliament in which many members will be appointed by the military.
The junta has restricted freedom of speech and assembly, sending perceived political opponents to attitude adjustment camps.
Thailand also has stringent lèse-majesté laws that criminalise insults to the monarchy, and prosecutions of this crime have increased significantly in recent years.
Even though Ubolratana officially relinquished her royal titles when she married an American in 1972, her formal entry into politics is likely to greatly complicate journalistic coverage of the campaign and election.
On Friday, five prominent analysts of Thai politics declined to comment about her candidacy. Several political activists who on social media had criticised her candidacy for unnecessarily muddying an already complicated political field quickly deleted their comments.
The deputy prime minister, Wissanu Krea-ngam, told reporters Friday that he had no comment on Ubolratana’s candidacy. “If I could answer you, I would,” he said. “But I can’t.”
Since Thailand’s absolute monarchy was abolished in 1932, immediate members of the royal family have not run for high office. The country’s political system has for decades involved a cut and thrust between powerful political forces committed to elections and a military that has at times deemed the ballot box harmful to the country. The military has staged a dozen successful coups.
Rumors about Ubolratana’s close ties with the Shinawatra family intensified last year when she was pictured with Thaksin, a former prime minister, and Yingluck Shinawatra, his sister and another former prime minister.
Both brother and sister have been convicted of corruption-linked crimes in absentia and are living in exile. A 2006 military putsch ended the tenure of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political base came from Thailand’s rural poor. Every election this century has been won by forces loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra.
Late last month, Ubolratana, who still sometimes referred to as a princess despite her marriage to, and divorce from, a foreigner, made a high-profile pilgrimage to nine Buddhist temples, something politicians often do to pray for good fortune in electoral contests.
She is expected to regain her official royal titles when her brother is formally crowned in May.
Their father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was the world’s longest-reigning monarch until his death in 2016. Although he had no formal political role, during his seven decades on the throne, he was seen as a unifying force for a nation frequently troubled by coups and deadly political violence.
© 2019 New York Times News Service