'No surrender' - Thailand's Pita vows to fight on after blow to PM bid

Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat greets supporters during a rally to thank voters ahead of the vote for a new prime minister on July 13, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 9, 2023. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Pita Limjaroenrat vowed on Thursday not to quit in his quest to become prime minister, after suffering defeat in a parliamentary vote fraught by abstentions and no-shows as conservative forces closed ranks to keep him at bay.

The leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, the surprise winners of the May 14 election, was unopposed in the showdown in the bicameral parliament, but fell 51 votes short of the top job after being thwarted by a Senate appointed by the royalist military after a 2014 coup.