Experts express scepticism over free and fair election

[cmsally]

5 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

I forget.

 

How many are allowed to gather in a public group in Thailand now?

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30354507

 

It has been mentioned that MAYBE in December political campaigning will be allowed. For now only basic organisation of parties is allowed; no campaigning.

[watcharacters]

6 minutes ago, cmsally said:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30354507

 

It has been mentioned that MAYBE in December political campaigning will be allowed. For now only basic organisation of parties is allowed; no campaigning.

 

Thanks cmsally.

 

I was actually referring to what I'd read about some years ago that   prohibited the gathering of more than a handful of people in public for any reason.    In essence, it just gave the authorities another tool to restrict freedom of expression as I saw it.

 

[thesetat2013]

N. Koreas last election comes to mind reading this. Good thing Kim got 99% voter support or people would doubt his legitimacy as an elected leader. 

I fear Thais election will be a little more discreet but produce the same results. 

[cmsally]

7 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

Thanks cmsally.

 

I was actually referring to what I'd read about some years ago that   prohibited the gathering of more than a handful of people in public for any reason.    In essence, it just gave the authorities another tool to restrict freedom of expression as I saw it.

 

no gatherings of more than 4 people

[HalfLight]

1 hour ago, CALSinCM said:

All that is needed if for the international community including the US to condemn the stonewalling that is making a mockery of an actual free and open democratic election -- but they won't.  The more pertinent question should be "Why are supposedly the freest and most democratic nations in the West ignoring the completely undemocratic constraints placed on opposition parties which aren't pro-junta?"

 

That seems like a very fair question, one that I've wondered about myself. Why is it so? I simply don't accept that people at large believe word one of what Prayuth says, so why do they seem to accept his destruction of democratic principles in Thailand. And I haven't noticed any comments about what the other guy is doing either...

[HalfLight]

5 hours ago, yellowboat said:

If the junta loses as has been foreseen by polls and Sutip,  what is the junta going to do to avoid that? Can the junta afford to lose.   How badly do the childish egos running the country want to be taken seriously at the UN at ASEAN at state dinners at numerous forums ?  This is a gawd awful mess based on expediency and lack of vision.   The next few months will be interesting and probably disappointing.   There is hope of they allow foreign observers.  The UN is conveniently located near government house, as are some of their election observers. 

 

I seriously doubt Prayuth will allow foreign observers, he just isn't likely to be any good at covering up what he's been doing, but I admit to being perplexed at why adverse comment hasn't been coming from just about everyone, and I doubt many people have been believing what Prayuth's been saying. Very puzzling. Perhaps nobody thinks that Thailand is very important in the overall scheme of things pr perhaps they just think that any comment will draw down yet more lies from a band of known liars...

[HalfLight]

3 hours ago, cmsally said:

I'm sure they were watching closely when the Cambodians were having their elections. Not an international peep over those, so it seems to be chocks away.

 

That's certainly true. Cambodia not very important either perhaps...

[cmsally]

Been thrown to the Chinese maybe, or maybe one big social experiment that maybe even the developed world is keen to follow. Does anywhere in the world now actually stand up for peoples rights and freedom, unless there is some ulterior motive that is to their benefit. Who would be a likely candidate to stand up for Thailand, I can't think of one offhand.

[scorecard]

12 hours ago, CALSinCM said:

All that is needed if for the international community including the US to condemn the stonewalling that is making a mockery of an actual free and open democratic election -- but they won't.  The more pertinent question should be "Why are supposedly the freest and most democratic nations in the West ignoring the completely undemocratic constraints placed on opposition parties which aren't pro-junta?"

How could the US criticize democracy in any other country when their own version / system of 'democracy' is a lie?

 

 

[scorecard]

11 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

N. Koreas last election comes to mind reading this. Good thing Kim got 99% voter support or people would doubt his legitimacy as an elected leader. 

I fear Thais election will be a little more discreet but produce the same results. 

I wonder what happened to the other 1%?

[DrTuner]

Who cares about elections when the NCPO can just overrule whichever puppets get chosen. Another circus act.

[blackhorse]

Experts
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

EVERYBODY an expert in LOS!!

[chama]

On 11/4/2018 at 5:18 PM, Chang_paarp said:

Boycotting an election does nothing to change the result, it allows the the cheats to claim legitimacy by pointing the the margin of their win. It also removed the option of giving the electors a chance to register a protest vote whether or not it is counted. 

It seems that there must be a way to stay in the electoral process and still call out the cheating that is almost inevitable. If a party can crack the code on that then they are probably smart enough to govern.

[chama]

These folks will probably be charged with campaigning or some other disruptive behavior so they can be marginalized and taken out of the public eye...or worse.