The conservative establishment in Thailand has many reasons to make sure Pita Limjaroenrat, the winner of May’s general election, does not become prime minister. His policies include military reform, elimination of monopolies and decentralisation of power from Bangkok: collectively, an existential threat to the generals and oligarchs who run the country.

But as unelected senators voted down Pita in the national assembly last week they used only one line of attack. The senators rejected his pledge to reform Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, which imposes a prison sentence of three to fifteen years on anybody who insults the Thai monarchy.

A taboo topic for politics until street protesters put in on the agenda in 2020, the sudden debate over lèse majesté highlights the extent to which the Thai monarchy — led by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who spends most of his time in Germany — is now at the heart of a decades-long struggle between liberal democracy and traditional conservative rule.