Paetongtarn Shinawatra (Editorial Credit: SPhotograph/Shutterstock.com)
Yesterday, the national electoral body announced that Thailand will hold elections on May 14, one day after the dissolution of parliament.
Parties are now campaigning vigorously to win the support of some 52 million eligible voters. The election is expected to turn into a battle between a pro-military conservative group, led by incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and the main opposition Pheu Thai party, led by the billionaire Shinawatra family.
Early voting will take place on May 7. The registration of candidates, including nominees for the position of Prime Minister, will take place in early April. Secretary General of the Election Commission, Sawaeng Boonmee, said at a press conference that the commission will approve at least 95% of the vote within 60 days of the election. He called for the rules to be respected to ensure that the elections run smoothly.
According to a timeline provided by the government, those eligible to vote will elect the MPs in May, who, along with a Senate nominee, will choose the prime minister by the end of July.
Political meetings have been taking place for months, but the parties are now stepping up their efforts. Pheu Thai is expected to organize daily events throughout Thailand in the near future. The youngest daughter of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn, is leading the polls as a possible candidate for prime minister.
Since 2001, the Shinawatra's party has won every election with populist policies targeting the working class and peasants, twice by overwhelming majority. However, three of these governments were able to pack up because they were chased out by military coups or court rulings. Paetongtarn said on Friday that she was confident she would now win by an overwhelming majority to avoid any opposition.
Prayut, who is running for re-election and joined the United Thai Nation Party to do so, told reporters on Tuesday that his cabinet will still rule the country for now.
Source: CNN
my wife and her 18-year-old daughter want to vote from the Netherlands,
does anyone know how that works and does it go through the Thai embassy or can also be done in the Temple in Waalwijk, for example.
Sincerely, Ronald
In 2019 it was arranged in this way in Belgium. I think that The Hague will organize something similar in the Netherlands. Normally they will first have to register in advance.
https://www.thaiembassy.be/2019/04/02/overseas-election-organized-by-royal-thai-embassy-in-brussels/?lang=en
There was also an article on TB about this before the 2019 elections. There you can also see the link where she had to register at the time. I suspect something similar will happen now.
https://www.thailandblog.nl/politiek/verkiezingen-in-thailand/
“Outside of Thailand
Voters who live or stay abroad on election day can also cast their vote earlier. They also have until midnight of February 19, 2019 to register via the link: election.bora.dopa.go.th/ectabroad.
Depending on their place of residence, this early voting will take place from 4 to 16 March 2019. Information on exactly how, where and when to vote abroad is also explained at that link.”
But please contact the embassy in The Hague. They can give you that information.
I think that in due time the necessary information will also appear on their website.
The question itself is a sign of the past and says something about how CNN (who apparently wrote the article) thinks about the elections; in particular how the Thai voter casts his vote: not for a party, not because of the similarity of his own opinion with the political ideas of a party, but apparently only for the person (who, by the way, has not yet been nominated for the position of PM) and – in this case – her blood type or clan.
I'm afraid CNN is not far from the truth. For me, this is a big disappointment, and one of the reasons why I don't think this country will ever move forward politically.
In an online talk yesterday, Thaksin said that his daughter would make a great PM (better than himself, but that's no surprise to me) and that he (already) updates her daily on the political situation (which may be against the law). law).
Also expect and hope that incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will lose and the largest opposition party Pheu Thai will win, but who knows how things will turn out. I expect Paetongtarn to become the new PM, people in Thailand are ready for a change, not the rich clan around Prayut, so you never know.
No, 'better' the wealthy but just as arrogant and uninterested in the people clans of the Shinawatras and the Chidchobs (Anutin, Newin and associates).
Do not make me laugh……
I'm afraid you could be worse off than Prayut.
I don't see any unrest around me, and people seem pretty happy to me.
That could be different with another prime minister.
The editor's text above reads the poison: "According to a government-provided timeline, the eligible voters will elect the MPs in May, who, along with a Senate nominee, will elect the Prime Minister by the end of July."
The appointed senate. Who is in that senate? Uniforms, elite, royalists. Without a majority in that senate, no bill from any party or coalition will pass and you will end up with an impotent House of Representatives and an impotent government. Exactly what Rutte-4 can now run into: despite consultation and talk, there may not be a majority in the freely elected senate.
Or has anyone read that the Thai senate is also being replaced?
How many of the Thailandblog readers who in 2014 waxed lyrical about Prayuth's "decisive" "putting things in order and tackling corruption" because of that "twisted Shinawat clique" still feel that way?
I will be curious to see how these elections will go and which rabbit the election commission and other powers will pull out of their hats this time to achieve the desired, the "correct" election result as much as possible. In the previous elections we already saw how, surprisingly enough, people still had to discuss how the electoral key should be divided after the elections. The senate appointed by the military junta then and still has a big finger in the pie. The judiciary can also interpret the law this way or that way (think, for example, of the dissolved party because the number 1 of it, formally not a princess but informally anyway and therefore against the law). And we have been waiting 4 years for a ruling from the Electoral Council about how Phalang Pracharat had a dinner evening where various ministries paid for a table, while formal government organizations are not allowed to sponsor parties. We know Thailand well, depending on who is in the dock, the explanation is one way or another. After all, the good people, the khon die, should remain at the helm.
I have no sympathy with the Shinawats, they are certainly not democrats, although they do more for the average Thai than the clique of Prayuth, Prawit, Anutin and so on. So I'd rather see a Shinawat than figures who have ruled the country since 2014. Surely the dinosaurs will die someday? Among the younger generation, I practically only hear support for the progressive Kao Klai (คก้าวไกล, Kaaw Klei). But Thailand is still full of old gray heads who still live in the Stone Age, in the "paradise" where a stern father figure corrects the children, throws a crumb every now and then and in the meantime fills his own pockets. Unfortunately, I do not see a radical change of course in the short term.
Dear Rob,
Agree with you for the most part.
But I would rather see a new generation of politicians who have no ties to old clans whose paterfamilias call the shots behind the scenes. But that is not how the distribution of power in Thailand works. The existing clans are constantly consolidating or strengthening their position.
It also has nothing to do with gray heads. Older politicians are also in the red shirts.
In a healthy democracy, there is social mobility, of middle-class children who take their own future into their own hands through good education, hard work and hard thinking. That is almost completely absent in this country. Why that is so, we could start a hefty discussion about. And don't think that there is only repression in Thailand. I was a member of the student generation of the 70s and our opinions were also suppressed.
The election results are more or less certain and there is little that can be done about it by the incumbent parties. The only question that makes it exciting is whether the Shinawatra clan will score more or less than 50% and whether they achieved that without or with informal donations.
After the elections it will be even more fun because then it will become clear how the power game army and king vs the result will be played. It is no secret that a sister of the head of state maintains good relations with the Shinawatra chief. In many societies, a friend of one becomes a friend of another after introduction in the context of building connections, but what about when it comes to power? Where are the borders and that is what we will see in a country with traditions of limited tolerance.
The figurehead, the daughter of, is not even in the picture as Prime Minister and are the plans feasible anyway? It is these things that show that during these elections it is not about the content, but about the frustration of around 50% of the population. The other 50% with much more powerful supporters will show whether they like the new experiment in 2023.
To answer the title question, counting seats in the House and Senate is a priority requirement.
Room 500 seats. Partly really elected by the Thai people. Partly occupied by “bought” votes. A deeply rooted tradition, often blamed on Phue Thai, but practiced at least as strongly by many other parties. The people in the village where I live collect the extra bats. With a smile or a grimace.
Senate 250 seats. Designated by a club of generals who, after the last coup, are listed as politicians in civilian suits.
Majority support from the House and Senate is required for a government.
Given the composition of the incumbent, permanent, unelectable Senate, a majority required for government formation for the military-sponsored/supported parties means 126 seats in the electable House.
A government-forming majority for parties not supported/wanted by the military requires at least 376 seats in the House.
With this mathematical reality, “landslide victory” immediately takes on a very own “thainess” meaning.
TiT democracy 🙂
Will these elections bring change?
I don't think so, Pheu Thai will win as expected, but the power of the elite supported by the army is too great to actually change anything.
They will find something to commit a coup, if it is not a dinner that has been forgotten, then it is an interview that does not go down well with someone in Germany.
A lot of talent is lost in this way and it is very difficult to rise from poverty, there will come a time when she will break that up, you cannot ignore the needs of the socially weak forever.
Geert P, with this constitution no coup d'état is necessary! If the appointed yes-men Senate rejects all bills that are unwelcome, nothing will come of the new government. He will then resign and then new elections will be held. I don't expect a coup until 'the people' take to the streets en masse and protest against…
Funny, a gentleman in Germany you say. Cambodia also has such a gentleman who is protected by a kind of 112 article, but he has nothing to say; the real powerhouse there is the prime minister. The first people have now been sentenced there for lese-majesty / lèse-majesté.
As a government, you can of course not make any laws at all, or you can make combined bills that can only be approved in their entirety.
The senate can reject it, but it cannot make laws itself.
The question is, of course, how long there will still be a government.
“I only expect a coup when 'the people' take to the streets en masse and protest against…”
I do not think so. Protesting, even not massively, actually works nowhere in the world. Look at some African countries, France, England, Israel….
In my opinion, things will only change if civil disobedience is committed on a massive scale: not illegal activities, but activities that throw sand into the current state of society. But that requires making sacrifices or doing things that are the opposite of the current easy way of life. In Brabant, where I come from, it is called "throwing the ass against the crib".
A few examples: stop working for the elite; unsubscribe from Facebook, Instagram, IMO and TikTok; pay all government bills in cash at the office (water, electricity, taxes, fines) and ask for a receipt; choose one day per week per province not to drive faster than 30 kilometers on the roads; withdraw all your money from the bank and only pay with cash; remove most apps from your phone and especially the QR code scanner.
Dear GeertP,
These elections will probably change 'something'.
One elite is replaced by another elite. Little or nothing will change in politics. Both elites think alike. The red elite will probably hand out some sweets (like in the past the Candy of the week at supermarket chain De Gruijter), but the yellow elite also have sweets in the shop, mostly the same (higher minimum wage while less than 40% of the population works on one employment contract, 100 or 200 Baht per month more pension for the old people).
Nothing is being done about the real problems in this country. Did they meet each other a long time ago?