Pita 'has sold iTV shares'

Pita for PM push: Activists led by P-Move rally in support of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat's bid to become the country's next prime minister. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Pita for PM push: Activists led by P-Move rally in support of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat's bid to become the country's next prime minister. (Photo: Varuth Hirunyatheb)

Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat has reportedly sold the shares he held in a media company in the hope of keeping his bid to become Thailand's next prime minister alive.

However, as the shares were sold after he had applied to run in the May 14 election, he may still be disqualified for violating the election law.

The MFP leader is under scrutiny over the 42,000 shares he held in iTV, an independent broadcaster founded in the 1990s. Under the current constitution, a candidate is barred from running for office if he or she owns shares in a media company.

If found guilty of violating the election law, Mr Pita will be disqualified as an MP, which would complicate the MFP's efforts to form the next government.

According to Mr Pita, the shares were originally held by his father, who died in 2006.

Mr Pita said he tried to sell the shares but could not find a buyer.

iTV stopped broadcasting in 2007 and its licence was taken over by Thai PBS. The company was delisted from the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 2014.

However, its business registration remains active because of a dispute with the government over unpaid fees.

On Sunday, Mr Pita said that he was ready to explain the matter to the Election Commission, though the poll agency has yet to contact him. He said nothing would obstruct his party's bid to form a government.

The MFP finished first in last month's poll with 151 seats, 10 more than Pheu Thai. The two parties and six others have formed a 313-member coalition that hopes to be the next government.

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Vocabulary

  • broadcaster: a person, company or organisation whose job is presenting or talking on television or radio programmes - ผู้กระจายเสียงทางวิทยุหรือโทรทัศน์
  • candidate: a person who is trying to be elected - ผู้สมัครรับเลือกตั้ง
  • coalition: a temporary union of different political parties that agree to form a government together - การร่วมรัฐบาล
  • complicate: to make something more difficult to deal with, do or understand - ทำให้ยาก, ทำให้ซับซ้อน
  • constitution: the set of laws and basic principles that a country in governed by - รัฐธรรมนูญ
  • delist: to take something of a list -
  • disqualification: a decision not to allow someone to do something because they have done something wrong - การตัดสิทธิ
  • Election Commission (EC) (noun): the independent government agency that oversees elections - คณะกรรมการเลือกตั้ง
  • scrutiny: careful and thorough examination - การตรวจสอบอย่างละเอียด
  • share: any of the units of equal value into which a company is divided and sold to raise money. People who own shares receive part of the company's profits - หุ้น
  • violate: to do something that is against the law - ละเมิดกฏหมาย
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