1 hour ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Your last sentence is key. A system that rewards a party, any party with large amounts of extra seats for being the biggest party is giving them the power to do as they please. If you look at the last election here PTP won as the largest minority which translated into a massive majority of seats in parliament. No wonder they thought they could do anything they wanted.

 

However, of course the outside wheeler dealing in forging "alliances" could be interesting here!

I never really understood the bonus system here in Thailand, because it is really strange that a bonus is given. The result is that the real vote distribution and the seats distribution never matched. Just did not seem democratic to give extra seats while voting did not reflect it. 

 

The forging of alliances is a strength and a weakness in my country it sometimes takes real long to form a government but at least it is based on actual votes. In a semi 2 party system governments are formed faster but in a coalition partners check each-other far more something that is good here in Thailand. The absolute power the 2 party system gave here made corruption easier. Once voted in you could do as you please..(leading to abuse). Now if there is a coalition you have to be far more careful Though there are situations where a coalition can lead to more corruption too. That depends a bit on the parties.

5 hours ago, robblok said:

Eric, it always depends on finances but its harder to convice 50% of a district to vote for you then get the same amount of votes all over a country. I know... you know why because i come from a country with a functioning system like this. This works much better for small parties, and the proof is simple.. look at countries that use similar systems to Thailand (before) and look at the Netherlands.. then count the parties.

 

PTP might be the worst looser but your missing something here.. it depends on how many votes they got .. before if they got 49% of votes in a district and the dems 51% all those 49% of votes would be gone... now these get counted. So it all depends how the votes were distributed. But one thing is for sure because the PTP does not automatically get extra seats for being the biggest party they certainly lose those. 

 

 

 

 

Do you or anyone know how votes are counted in Thailand? Who and how is it counterchecked? This is a serious question, for me at least.Since day one in this country, every other things is being screwed up. A colleague had to undergo a minor surgery and during the surgery, the doctor only started to ask if he has any allergies. Then later on his file, they got his allergy wrong. This is the worse thing to get it wrong! That is only one of the many anecdotes of gaffaws. I have encountered.

4 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Aw diddums. Don't worry, someone may believe Pheu Thai when they claim Thaksin ain't in charge. 

You may dismiss the possibility (likelihood?) of the party favoured by the largest single group of the electorate, both geographically and in terms of their socio-economic grouping being banned to prevent them possibly winning with a carefree  "aw diddums" and seize upon it as a further opportunity to air your obsession with Thaksin. I rather think, and so I suspect do a number of the other regular commentators on here, that it reveals your acceptance, or perhaps even approval, of all or any gerrymandering which may take place, as long as the government which results is to your taste and your bogeyman is kept out; two fingers to what the electorate may decide?