A FORMER THAI princess is running for prime minister in the country’s March elections, going up against the current military junta, in an unprecedented move for Thai royalty.
Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi gave up her royal titles in 1972 to marry an American and fellow MIT student Peter Jensen. She is also a former actress, an anti-drug campaigner, and popular on social media.
The couple divorced, and she moved back to Thailand, where she is still considered part of the royal family.
Ubolratana said she was exercising her right as a citizen, and is the first member of the royal family to run for prime minister.
Rumours of the move were widespread yesterday evening, but according to the Bangkok Post, no media were bold enough to touch the subject until the official announcement this morning.
Deep divides
Ubolratana will be running for the Thai Raksa Chart party, steered by a billionaire self-exiled former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. The party have won every political election since 2001, according to AFP.
Shinawatra is loathed by the military and Bangkok elite, but loved by the rural poor for health, welfare and education schemes.
The Thai royal family are traditionally not involved in politics, but have stepped in in the past in times of crisis.
“I want to clarify that I have relinquished the rank of nobility and am living as a commoner … I allowed Thai Raksa Chart Party to use my name for the nomination to the prime minister’s post,” said Ubolratana.
In 2006, the party was toppled in a military coup, so Ubolratana’s nomination is a heavy blow to the ruler of the military junta, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who has spent nearly five years trying to recast the political system to limit the power of elected governments and prepare his own return as a civilian leader.
The military under Prayut has cast itself as the protector of the monarchy.
But Ubolratana’s shock entrance into politics, aligned with the junta’s nemesis – the Shinawatra family – undercuts those claims.
- © AFP, 2019 with reporting by Zuzia Whelan
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