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Bangkok. March 2019.
April 7, 2019 / 4:44 PM / 2 days ago
Manipulation suspicions mount in Thailand's post-coup election
Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s first general election since a 2014 army coup has been touted by the ruling military junta as a return to democratic rule, but two weeks after the vote, results are still unclear and allegations of manipulation are mounting.
Since the March 24 vote, figures linked to a “democratic front” of opposition parties say they have come under increasing pressure from police and the military.
The Election Commission has also indicated it would use a complex allocation formula for 150 “party seats” in the House of Representatives in a way that would likely dilute the opposition alliance’s seats in the 500-seat lower house.
The Election Commission has said it won’t announce even provisional winners of the 150 party seats until May 9, saying it needs time to order by-elections and vote recounts as well as to disqualify candidates who broke election laws.
But critics say the time gap allows the military-royalist establishment to manipulate results and disqualify opponents of the pro-army Palang Pracharat party that seeks to keep junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha in power as an elected prime minister.
The leading opposition Pheu Thai party, made up of loyalists to army-ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sees the delays and legal actions as an attempt to deny the “democratic front” enough seats in the House needed to block the main junta-linked party from unrestrained lawmaking power.
“After the election ... the majority of the people feels a sense of hopelessness and distrust for the election process,” said Pheu Thai’s secretary-general, Phumtham Wechayachai.
“People are talking about the Election Commission’s part in supporting the extension of power by the National Council for Peace and Order,” he said, using the junta’s formal name.
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General decline: Thailand’s bogus election
The vote does not mark a return to democracy, but a new phase in military misrule
Mar 14th 2019 The Economist
IT SHOULD BE a triumphant return. On March 24th Thai voters will elect a new parliament, putting an end to five years of direct military rule (see article). But the MPs they pick will have nowhere to meet. King Vajiralongkorn has appropriated the old parliament building, which stands on royal property, for some unspecified purpose that, under the country’s harsh lèse-majesté laws, no one dares question. The military junta has yet to finish building a new parliament house.
That the newly chosen representatives of the Thai people will be homeless stands as a symbol for how hollow the election will be, and how contemptuous the generals are of democracy, even as they claim to be restoring it. They have spent the past five years methodically rigging the system to ensure that the will of voters is thwarted, or at least fiercely circumscribed. In particular, they want to foil Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister, now in exile, whose supporters have won every election since 2001. The result will be a travesty of democracy in a country that was once an inspiration for South-East Asia. It is bad news not only for the 69m Thais but also for the entire region.....
Bangkok. March 2019.
April 7, 2019 / 4:44 PM / 2 days ago
Manipulation suspicions mount in Thailand's post-coup election
Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s first general election since a 2014 army coup has been touted by the ruling military junta as a return to democratic rule, but two weeks after the vote, results are still unclear and allegations of manipulation are mounting.
Since the March 24 vote, figures linked to a “democratic front” of opposition parties say they have come under increasing pressure from police and the military.
The Election Commission has also indicated it would use a complex allocation formula for 150 “party seats” in the House of Representatives in a way that would likely dilute the opposition alliance’s seats in the 500-seat lower house.
The Election Commission has said it won’t announce even provisional winners of the 150 party seats until May 9, saying it needs time to order by-elections and vote recounts as well as to disqualify candidates who broke election laws.
But critics say the time gap allows the military-royalist establishment to manipulate results and disqualify opponents of the pro-army Palang Pracharat party that seeks to keep junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha in power as an elected prime minister.
The leading opposition Pheu Thai party, made up of loyalists to army-ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sees the delays and legal actions as an attempt to deny the “democratic front” enough seats in the House needed to block the main junta-linked party from unrestrained lawmaking power.
“After the election ... the majority of the people feels a sense of hopelessness and distrust for the election process,” said Pheu Thai’s secretary-general, Phumtham Wechayachai.
“People are talking about the Election Commission’s part in supporting the extension of power by the National Council for Peace and Order,” he said, using the junta’s formal name.
- - - - - - -
General decline: Thailand’s bogus election
The vote does not mark a return to democracy, but a new phase in military misrule
Mar 14th 2019 The Economist
IT SHOULD BE a triumphant return. On March 24th Thai voters will elect a new parliament, putting an end to five years of direct military rule (see article). But the MPs they pick will have nowhere to meet. King Vajiralongkorn has appropriated the old parliament building, which stands on royal property, for some unspecified purpose that, under the country’s harsh lèse-majesté laws, no one dares question. The military junta has yet to finish building a new parliament house.
That the newly chosen representatives of the Thai people will be homeless stands as a symbol for how hollow the election will be, and how contemptuous the generals are of democracy, even as they claim to be restoring it. They have spent the past five years methodically rigging the system to ensure that the will of voters is thwarted, or at least fiercely circumscribed. In particular, they want to foil Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister, now in exile, whose supporters have won every election since 2001. The result will be a travesty of democracy in a country that was once an inspiration for South-East Asia. It is bad news not only for the 69m Thais but also for the entire region.....