Express View on Thailand’s election results: A win for democracy

General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who unseated a civilian government in 2014, and got himself appointed prime minister, had the support of the 3,00,000 strong Thai army, royalist parties and the monarchy as he went into this election to legitimise his position and further entrench the military as the predominant power in Thailand.

But two democratic parties, the Move Forward Party led by 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, and Pheu Thai, led by ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s 56-year-old daughter Yingluck Shinawatra, have won more than 150 seats each in the 500-seat parliament. Both leaders belong to wealthy business families that rose up against the military in the last two decades.

Yingluck’s father was removed in a coup in 2006. She was elected in 2011 and was prime minister for three years until ousted by the military nearly a decade ago; Pita, who owns a family rice bran oil business and was a top executive with a South East Asian cab aggregator, was elected parliamentarian of a democratic party that was disbanded by the military, a decision that triggered street and campus protests against the military and monarchy in 2020-21.

He has established solid democratic credentials by pledging that his Move Forward party will do away with Thailand’s lese majeste laws, under which anyone perceived as insulting the monarch or any member of the royal family is liable to be jailed from three to 15 years. An alliance between these two and other like-minded parties is poised to give democratic parties an absolute majority in Parliament.

A common concern today in many countries is that ruling forces that lose elections may not accept the results, and will try to stay on in power. With a two-week timeline for government formation, Thais fear their mandate may be overturned by Prayuth with monetary inducements or military force or through an unelected Senate that is dominated by military appointees. Ten years in power gave Prayuth enough time to stack all institutions, including the Thai judiciary. But given the people’s mood, he may be wary of turning Thailand into another Myanmar. Indeed, the Thai election results will be celebrated by pro-democracy forces in Myanmar who have taken up arms against the military regime in that country. A democratic government in Thailand may also help to repair a split down the middle in the ASEAN on how to get the Myanmar military regime to implement the transition plan to democracy called 5PC (Five Point Consensus) to which the junta had agreed.