Thai PM candidate Pita open to managing pace of reform agenda

FILE PHOTO: Move Forward Party Leader Pita Limjaroenrat speaks during a voting session for a new prime minister at the parliament, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 13, 2023. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's prime ministerial hopeful said on Tuesday he was willing to manage the pace of his Move Forward party's ambitious reform drive if he becomes leader, but vowed no retreat from a plan to change a law that forbids insulting the monarchy.

In an interview with Reuters on the eve of his second bid to win the top job, Pita Limjaroenrat, who led his party to election victory in May, described efforts by the military establishment to block him as like a "broken record" and said Thailand had entered a new era with a public hankering for change.