Politics back in fashion in Thailand despite poll delays

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat

 

FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy activists wear masks mocking Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha as Pinocchio during a protest against junta at a university in Bangkok, Thailand, February 24, 2018. REUTERS/Panarat Thepgumpanat/File Photo

 

Baan Saladin, Thailand (Reuters) - Thai junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha rowed a boat across a pond dotted with lotus leaves, planted some rice stalks in a field and turned to villagers who had come to meet him in Baan Saladin village in central Thailand.

 

Speaking of an oft-delayed general election, the 63-year-old Prayuth, who led a 2014 coup that ousted the last elected government, simply said: "Elect a good person."

 

Prayuth was in Nakhon Pathom province last month not to campaign for an election, but to roll out his "Long-lasting Thainess" plan, which involves sending soldiers and social workers to meet with people across Thailand to listen to their problems.

 

But the "Thainess" undertaking is widely seen as the unofficial launch of Prayuth's own campaign to stay on as prime minister. Prayuth had promised to hold an election in November, but said last week the vote would take place "no later" than February 2019.

 

"Those in the government and the junta ... think that the situation in the country is still unsettled," said a government minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, about the series of election delays.

 

ANTI-JUNTA PROTESTS

 

In Bangkok, young, middle-class Thais, have led a series of anti-junta protests, including one on Feb. 24 at Thammasat University - which Thai troops stormed in 1976, killing dozens of students in an earlier coup.

 

Than Rittiphan, a member of the New Democracy Movement, which has helped to organise the protests, said the movement is mainly aimed at holding a general election sooner.

 

The movement transcends the red-yellow divide in Thai politics and "has actually spread into a conflict between generations and values", he said. The students say they are pushing for a Thai meritocracy to replace what they see as corruption and nepotism in the system.

 

The latest protests are too small to be a factor in any election timing, said Kan Yuenyong, a political analyst and executive director of the Siam Intelligence Unit think-tank told Reuters. "But they do increase public awareness about the vote.

 

"The underlying politics of Thailand is still about class – the upper, middle and the working class. People try to say that we've moved on from colour politics but we haven't," Kan said.

 

RED-YELLOW DIVIDE

 

The junta's four-year moratorium on politics was aimed at stamping out the intransigent red-yellow divide in Thai politics.

 

The "yellow shirts" tended to support the Democrat Party, popular with middle-class voters with strong support in Bangkok and the Muslim-dominated south.

 

The "red shirt" movement of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, Yingluck appealed to poorer voters, particularly in the populous northeast. It has won every election in Thailand over the past two decades.

 

Yingluck herself was overthrown by Prayuth in the 2014 coup and last year fled Thailand before the verdict in a corruption trial – eliminating a charismatic party figurehead who might also have rallied opposition to Prayuth.

 

Although he cannot stand for election, the constitution offers a way for Prayuth to continue serving as prime minister.

 

According to the constitution, both houses of parliament can consider an alternative candidate as prime minister if the 500-member lower house fails to approve a nominee for the post.

 

The candidate would need majority support from both houses - all 250 senators in the upper house are appointed by the junta.

Outside the legislature, Prayuth appears to have some support already.

 

Representatives of 114 political groups met this month with the election panel, with many pledging support for Prayuth as prime minister.

 

The two main parties, however, the Democrat Party and the Thaksin-allied Puea Thai Party, have openly criticized Prayuth's election postponements and will field their own candidates for the prime minister job.

 

"The military wants to ensure that it can convince political parties to support it and that's why it needs more time," said a senior government aide, referring to the repeated postponements of the election.

 

Thaksin and his sister Yingluck held meetings in Hong Kong and Singapore last month with members of his party, prompting some to comment that he was readying Puea Thai for an election.

 

(Additional reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-06

30 minutes ago, webfact said:

"The military wants to ensure that it can convince political parties to support it and that's why it needs more time," said a senior government aide, referring to the repeated postponements of the election.

It is rare to see a government official being honest in Thailand, but I think that the quote above is generally correct.

 

The military needs the legitimacy of an election. If Prayut and his boys don't get the legitimacy that a reasonably fair election provides, they will go down in the history books simply as a pack of thugs; that would be unacceptable to a huge number of people. And the only way that they will get legitimacy is if the political class agree that it was a 'reasonably' fair election. What constitutes a 'reasonably' fair election? Great question without a clear answer, but for example if the PTP says that it wasn't and the folks from the N and NE agree, it would not be considered fair. The same could be said about the South, but it is unclear if the Democrats will still have the status to make that declaration or if they will be supplanted by Suthep's money and rent-a-mobs.

 

If I were the political parties, I would be mentioning the concept of 'legitimacy' every hour on the hour and forty-two times on Sunday as a warning to the military. It sounds funny, but the one thing that the all-powerful military needs more than anything can only be given properly by their opponents.

 

Interesting times...

 

PS Getting into the PM's chair with the help of an appointed Senate won't do the trick!

 

Edited March 6, 20188 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

46 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thai junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha rowed a boat across a pond dotted with lotus leaves, planted some rice stalks in a field and turned to villagers who had come to meet him

How nice! I wonder did he tell his "frog fairytale dream story" like he did last year to a disbelieving audience in Isaan. Is it possible for him to find any more ways to make a fool of himself?

The travel tales of Prayut chan-o-cha is about the best free comedy entertainment about these days.

 

 

Edited March 6, 20188 yr by Cadbury

I don't want red and yellow anymore.

 

I want parties for the poor people, not the rich people.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"Those in the government and the junta ... think that the situation in the country is still unsettled," said a government minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, about the series of election delays.

Yes, and the junta made it worse, far worse. You do not need an anonymous source to tell you that.  Had the army just ran elections four years ago, the country would have been a better place.  Junta has not made the country better, but rather, perpetuated more hate.