80后、哈佛学霸、改革者…42岁的泰国新总理皮塔,凭什么成为大选“黑马”?(附视频&摘要稿)
当地时间5月15日上午,泰国选举委员会发布国会下议院选举非正式计票结果,同为反对党的远进党和为泰党合计赢得下议院过半数席位。
中午时分,99%选票统计完成,其中皮塔领衔的远进党获得151个席位,前总理他信的女儿佩通坦领衔的为泰党获得141个席位,两者的席位总数已超过下议院总席位数的一半。远进党党魁皮塔(Pita Limjaroenrat)宣布在此次选举中获胜,已经做好组建新一届政府的准备,自己也已准备好担任总理一职。
暂时排名第二的为泰党随后也召开发布会,向选举中暂时领先的远进党表示祝贺,同意由远进党牵头组建新一届政府,表示愿意与远进党联合组阁。
实际上,这也就意味着泰国新总理选举落下帷幕,42岁的皮塔当选为泰国新总理已板上钉钉,接下来他将组建泰国新一届政府。42岁的皮塔在曼谷接受记者访问时表示:“我是皮塔,泰国下一任总理,我们已准备好组建政府”,并誓言要成为“所有人的总理”。
围绕皮塔的标签有很多:“80后”、“学霸”、“哈佛校友”……年轻英俊的皮塔被很多泰国年轻选民视为偶像。
皮塔1980年9月出生于泰国的一个政治世家,他的父亲曾经是泰国农业部顾问,他的叔叔是前总理他信的亲密助手、内政部长的前秘书。但皮塔并非一开始就从政,他曾是一名企业家。
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"Today is a new day, and hopefully it is full of bright sunshine and hope," 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat told a room packed with reporters and flashing cameras, hours after it had become clear that he could well be Thailand's next prime minister.
Mr Pita's party, Move Forward, which in Thai evokes leaps of change, has swept to a surprising and stunning victory. Voters rejected nearly a decade of army-backed rule, handing more seats and votes to Move Forward than any other party. That is is no mean achievement in a country that has experienced at least a dozen successful coups.
"The sentiment of the era has changed. And it was the right timing," Mr Pita said, speaking at the party's headquarters in Bangkok, where it had won 32 of the city's 33 seats.
The business of forming a government is still weeks away. It can also get messy, given that Thailand's military still has the power to play kingmaker. But the win has put the spotlight on Mr Pita and his party, who have built a strong following among young voters disillusioned by years of military rule and hungry for change.
Mr Pita started his political career when he was elected to parliament in 2019 as a member of the Future Forward Party. Founded by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a billionaire and staunch critic of the army, the party performed well in the 2019 election, shaking up Thai politics with its demand for change.
But Future Forward was forced to disband the following year after contentious allegations. And Mr Thanathorn was disqualified as an MP. Move Forward was formed soon after as its successor and named Mr Pita its new leader.
Thousands of young people took to the streets in Thailand that year after the ban, demanding amendments to the constitution, a new election and an end to the harassment of rights activists and state critics.
That desire for change and many of those very issues drove Move Forward's appeal in this election, with some of the protest leaders from 2020 running as candidates.
Mr Pita - once called a "rising star" of the Thai parliament because of the critical speeches he made as an opposition MP - also gained popularity with his party's bold promises to break the military's political influence and reform laws relating to the monarchy.
He wants to rewrite the constitution and has pledged to bring Thailand out of what he calls a "lost decade" under a military regime.
In a campaign interview with Bloomberg in April, Mr Pita said his priorities for Thailand were to "demilitarise, demonopolise and decentralise".
Move Forward will also continue to push for an end to Thailand's lèse-majesté laws.
"We will pass that in this parliament. And we will use the parliament to make sure that it is a comprehensive discussion with maturity, with transparency, in how we should move forward in the relationship between the monarchy and the masses," he said on Monday.
Mr Pita was born to a wealthy Thai family involved in politics. His father was an adviser in the agriculture ministry and his uncle was an aide of former ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
He was sent to school in New Zealand, which is when he developed an interest in politics.
"I got shipped to the middle of nowhere in New Zealand and there were three [TV] channels back then. Either you watch Australian soap operas, or you watch the debates in parliament," he told the Thai YouTube programme Aim Hour earlier this year in February.
Mr Pita graduated with a bachelor's degree in finance in Bangkok's Thammasat University, a master's in public policy from Harvard University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has described himself as "an American product of public policy schools".
He started his career in business, first taking over the running of his late father's rice bran oil company and later as an executive director of ride-hailing company Grab Thailand.He was married to Chutima Teenpanart, a Thai actress-model, but the couple divorced in 2019. He is now a single dad of seven-year-old Pipim, whom he has brought to Move Forward's rallies.
Despite Move Forward's success at the polls on Sunday, it is not a given that he will become prime minister - this will be decided by the military-appointed Senate and the Lower House.
Asked on Monday about the uncertainty that the ruling establishment might rig the polls, Mr Pita said: "I'm not worried, but I'm not careless.
"With the consensus that came out of the election, it will be quite a hefty price to pay for someone who is thinking of abolishing the election results... The people of Thailand will not allow that to happen."
根据英国BBC的报道,42岁的皮塔先生出生于一个有政治关系的富裕泰国家庭。他的父亲是农业部的一名顾问,他的叔叔是前被罢免的总理他信·西那瓦的助手。他说他在新西兰读高中时就对政治产生了兴趣。
皮塔自小就接受了良好的教育。在曼谷读完小学后,皮塔被送往新西兰读中学,而正是在新西兰的留学经历让皮塔萌生了对政治的兴趣。
皮塔今年2月曾在BBC的一档节目中表示,他在新西兰的一个偏远地区学习,那时只有三个电视频道,“要么看澳大利亚的肥皂剧,要么看(新西兰)国会中的辩论。”显然,皮塔对政治辩论更感兴趣。
回到泰国后,皮塔先是在泰国国立法政大学获得了金融学学士学位,后前往美国得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校继续深造。在美国,皮塔成为第一个获得哈佛大学国际学生奖学金的泰国学生,他在哈佛大学肯尼迪政府学院获得公共政策硕士学位,并在麻省理工学院获得工商管理硕士学位。
25岁时,皮塔的父亲去世,他中断学业回到泰国,加入了家族经营的一家米糠油企业。这家企业重新站稳脚跟后,皮塔回到美国完成了硕士学位学习。在此之后,皮塔于2017年和2018年担任了泰国Grab公司的执行董事。
2018年,皮塔才开始了自己的政治生涯,加入了前进党的前身“未来前进党”。2019年泰国大选期间,皮塔应未来前进党党魁塔纳通邀请作为该党候选人参加大选,成功当选下议院议员。
未来前进党在当年的大选中表现出色,成为国会第三大党,时年40岁的塔纳通成为总理候选人有力竞争者。然而,2020年,泰国宪法法院宣布解散未来前进党,该党多名议员被取消议员资格,包括皮塔。
时间虽然短暂,但作为反对派议员,皮塔曾在泰国国会发表了言辞犀利的批评性演讲,被称为泰国议会的后起之秀。
未来前进党解散后,皮塔更是成为了前进党的新领导人。他和他的政党因为承诺打破军方的政治影响力,改革和泰国王室相关的法律受到许多年轻人的欢迎。在此次大选中,皮塔在社交媒体上获得了大批年轻人的支持。他所到之处,掀起一片“橙色浪潮”。
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