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News > World

Junta Limits Expression as Elections Approach in Thailand

  • Activist and university students gather to demand the first election in Thailand since the military seized power in a 2014 coup.

    Activist and university students gather to demand the first election in Thailand since the military seized power in a 2014 coup. | Photo: Reuters file

Published 27 January 2019
Opinion

The Military Junta of Thailand recently emitted a decree setting March 24. as the official election day, after postponing the poll on three occasions. 

Fears emerge that the military junta will impose tough restrictions on social media campaigning during the upcoming March 24 elections.

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Thailand: Protests Break Out Over Junta Elections Delay

After emitting the royal official decree setting the date for the much-expected elections which have been postponed on three prior occasions, the elections commissions unveiled its strict guidelines on political campaigning.

The opposition party Future Forward’s spokeswoman Pannika Wanich expressed concern that these rules would limit freedom of expression and access to information.

Some early polls indicate that the Pheu Thai Party—formed by Thaksin Shinawatra, brother of Yingluck Shinawatra, both former PM’s involved in corruption scandals — and its allies may be able to take 272 to 300 MP seats out of a total of 500.

There is concern among some in Thailand that the electoral system may be stacked in favor of the military junta, according to The Nation.

For this reason, the Phey Thai Party coalition would need to win by a large enough majority to prevent the Junta from using a tactic consisting of calling in “the clause that can put in place an unelected prime minister who is not an MP,” according to Cod Satru-sayang, editor of the Asia News Network (ANN).

For Satru-Sayan, it is more likely that the parties aligned with the junta, such as Phalang Pracharat, will gain enough seats, added to the seats the junta controls in the Senate, to give it a simple majority needed to direct the post-electoral outcomes.

Recently, hundreds of people took to the streets in various cities across Thailand to protest possible delays in elections as the military junta has failed to emit an official decree to formalize the election date expected to take place in February.

The last official election held in Thailand was in 2011, in which Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s first female prime minister was elected. The next election was held in 2014 and was invalidated by the constitutional tribunal which accused the incumbent Yingluck of abuse of power, creating a wave of protests in the country and forced her to resign.

The upcoming elections are a landmark in recent Thai history because they will end the military rule which began in 2014. However, they do not promise to deliver a marked change to Thai society, as both the junta and the Pheu Thai, both represent challenges to democracy—the first on grounds of limiting freedoms and the second is marred in corruption scandals and nepotism.

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