The surprise but welcome result in Thailand’s national election is cause for optimism that the coup-ridden South-East Asian nation may now enter a new era of stable democracy and cleaner government.
Opposition party Pheu Thai was expected to defeat the military-aligned government that has ruled since the 2014 military coup. But weighed down by the polarising legacy of billionaire former prime minister and now fugitive-in-exile Thaksin Shinawatra, and amid suspicions it would collaborate with pro-military parties, Pheu Thai has been relegated to second place by an “orange wave” that has swept a start-up disruptor movement to the brink of power.
The Move Forward Party has topped the polls and won an amazing clean sweep of all seats in Bangkok. The two contending military-aligned parties ran fourth and fifth. This represents a remarkable democratic revival and reversal in Thailand.
For a decade, most Thai’s have supported military-backed rule as a stable alternative to the bitter Red Shirt versus Yellow Shirt protests that followed Mr Shinawatra’s ousting by another military coup in 2006. Now Thais, especially the young, have voted for a fresh start by endorsing the radical pro-democracy agenda of Move Forward’s youthful and charismatic leader Pita Limjaroenrat, which includes ending rampant corruption and cronyism, and amending the onerous lese-majeste laws forbidding criticism of the Thai royal family.
Caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha, a former general who led the 2014 coup, has promised to respect the democratic verdict. Yet it’s the unelected senate, which is packed with military loyalists and which gets a say on who becomes prime minister, that will have to respect the convention that the party with the most seats forms the next government. Only then will the era of rule by the generals be truly over in Thailand.
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