The last dictatorship of the world led by a military junta is coming to an end

A military dictatorship in the strict sense is a regime that emanates from a coup d'etat led by the armed forces -Or by a faction- and this remains in power without going through any case of electoral legitimacy. Usually, a council formed by coup leaders will choose one of them to lead the executive branch.

In many moments of the second half of the 20th century, this pattern was common in Latin America, Africa and much of Asia. However, the democratic wave that began in the late 1980s and consolidated in the 1990s has made this type of government increasingly unsustainable.

Currently, only one country in the world is ruled by a military junta. Since the coup that overthrew Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on May 22, 2014, a junta headed by General Prayut Chan-o-cha holds the reins of Thailand, with the peculiarity of keeping the monarchy intact, which lacks real power.

However, From next Sunday, there will be no more dictatorship of this type: the regime convened general elections to end the state of exception. But that nothing is together does not mean that there will be democracy. The electoral process seems typed to ensure the triumph of Prayut, who stands as a candidate for a party.

According to Freedom House, There are 50 countries in the world ruled by authoritarian regimes. With the exception of Saudi Arabia's fashionable absolute monarchies or communist party regimes at the Cuban party, the others are dictatorships to democratic forms. In all, there are periodic elections, but there is no real competitionbecause they are rigged so that the party in power always wins.

Paul Biya is the most outrageous example. He has been leading Cameroon since 1975, first as prime minister and then as president.. Win all the choices for sidereal differences, but thanks to a bespoke system, in which there is no room for dissent.

Prayut wants to reproduce the same model in Thailand. Born 65 years ago in a modest family in the northeastern part of the country, he devoted his entire life to a military career that kept him close to a constant intrigue in power and who l & rsquo; led in 2010 to be appointed head of the army.

By taking the military command, oversaw the operation that crushed the "Red Shirt" demonstrations, supporters of the exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (2001 – 2006), which caused 90 deaths in Bangkok's commercial heartland. It seemed to be going well with Thaksin's sister, Prime Minister Yingluck, when in 2011 the Thaksinists returned to the government. But in the end, he ends up taking power after months of demonstrations in the street.

After the coup d'état of 2014, he retired at the head of the army, but he retained his position at the head of the junta and was elected prime minister by a puppet parliament that the diet formed with acolytes. He then created a political party, the Palang Pracharat, and changed the electoral system to allow him to stay in power in a "democratic" way in Sunday's elections.

It will only need 126 seats out of 500 in the lower house of Parliament to obtain a parliamentary majoritybecause the constitution was changed to allow for a Senate dominated by the military. Not to mention the multitude of small parties that have been created for the junta.

To win, the opposition should get a mathematically almost impossible election resultand get 376 seats. In addition, the Council has developed a system ensuring that, in the event of an unlikely victory of Mr. Thaksin's party in Sunday's parliamentary elections, he may retain his veto, eventual parliamentary majority being counterbalanced by the Senate appointed by the army. .

To this is added an electoral system that makes it very difficult for a large party to obtain the majority of 500 seats of parliament and "prevents pro-Thaksin parties from having too many deputies", according to political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Sudarat Keyuraphan is the candidate of Pheu Thai, Thaksin's party. A second party created by the clan to circumvent this system was dissolved by the Constitutional CourtHe had dared to propose to the king's sister, Princess Ubolratana, to run for the post of prime minister in case of victory, which would have meant a revolution in that monarchy.

The two big unknowns of the elections are the loyalty of the electorate towards Thaksin and the position of young voters, because out of a total of 51 million voters, 7 million young people vote for the first time

Thanatorn Juangroongruangkit, a 40-year-old billionaire who is a virulent opponent of the junta, is a newcomer to politics. seduces this sector and could be an important ally for Thaksin. Thanatorn created the "Future Forward" party.

True, General "Prayut will return to power as prime minister," but it will cost him "to form a government," said Jatubad Promphan, leader of the "red shirts" movement, the pro Thaksin movement.

With information from AFP and EFE