Thai politician and prime Prime Ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat has tweeted pop superstar Taylor Swift, inviting her to return to Thailand now that the country has become "fully democratic" again.

Cruel Summer

This comes nine years after Swift's previous concert in Thailand, for the Red tour, was cancelled due to the government of then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra being ousted in a military coup.

According to Variety, Swift canceled the concert on May 27 2014, five days after the coup took place on May 22.

The concert was due to take place on June 9, but Swift announced in a tweet: "I'm so sad about the concert being canceled".

Ever since then, Thailand has been governed by supporters of the coup, but this looks to have changed in recent months, with two non-military parties dominating the elections held in May 2023.

Pita's Move Forward Party received the largest number of seats, surpassing the Pheu Thai Party of Shinawatra's niece Paetongtarn Shinawatra, putting him in pole position to become the new prime minister of Thailand.

However, this is far from a certainty at the moment. 

You belong with me

While Pita's prime ministership is not yet certain, he is beginning to take on the role of leader of the country, and is displaying that in a true show of national leadership: appealing to Swift to perform in Thailand.

Hey Taylor! Big fan of yours. Btw, Thailand is back on track to be fully democratic after you had to cancel last time due to the coup. The Thai people have spoken via the election and we all look forward to welcoming you to this beautiful nation of ours!

Do come and I’ll be… https://t.co/ypox90kRpL

— Pita Limjaroenrat (@Pita_MFP) July 6, 2023

Replying to a tweet that announced 14 new show in Europe, Pita said he was a big fan, and that Thailand was "on track to be fully democratic".

Saying that the people of Thailand had spoken via the election and was "looking forward to welcoming you to this beautiful nation of ours!"

He then promised to sing Lavender Haze with her.

Swift is currently on her ERAS tour, and is only playing six nights in Southeast Asia, all of which are in Singapore.

This has led to a frenzy of ticket buying, with the first round of ticket sales seeing tickets sold out in hours, and over a million people in queue.

Singaporeans have also been queuing outside of Singpost outlets since Thursday.

It also continues a trend of politicians opining on concert tickets, with no less than Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong announcing his excitement for Swift's concerts, and Education Minister Chan Chun Sing saying that any school who could get Swift to agree to visit could get a day off.

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In Malaysia and Indonesia, limited Coldplay performances set off a wave of soul searching on whether concert and cultural infrastructure was sufficient.

Pita was not the only Prime Minister trying to woo Swift into more concerts.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also tweeted at Swift asking for more concert dates, albeit without the threat of a duet.

It’s me, hi. I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another cruel summer. We hope to see you soon.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) July 6, 2023

Bad blood

Meanwhile in Thailand, Pita inches closer to becoming Prime Minister.

Leading an eight party coalition, with 312 out of 500 lower house seats, he still needs 64 more votes as the PM is decided by both a joint session of parliament, including a 250 seat senate.

After the previous election in 2019 where the military backed government of Prayuth Chan-Ocha was voted into power by all 250 senators, there are some indications that the senate will not vote as a block this time.

Whether this will mean Pita will secure enough votes is up in the air, with the Bangkok Post suggesting that he would not receive more than five senate votes, but Reuters reporting that he had "enough" votes from the senate to secure his position.

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Top image via @Pita_MFP/Twitter & @taylorswift13/Twitter