[ad_1]
The Thais went to the polls on Sunday for the first election since the 2014 coup. The elections pitted a royalist junta and its allies against a party linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
"I hope that Thailand becomes more democratic and that social inequalities are eased," said Pattrapong Waschiyapong, an insurance company employee, at a polling station in Bangkok.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and the royal family is theoretically above politics. However, a palace statement issued on the eve of the vote urged voters to make the right choice.
The statement referred to the remarks made in 1969 by the former monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej. He called on voters to support the right people to govern society and control the wrong people.
His son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, urged the public to remember the remarks of his father, who died in 2016.
TV stations across the country have repeated these statements.
Impact
In February, a royal commandment ended the candidacy of King's older sister, Princess Ubolratana, as the prime minister of a party linked to Thaksin.
Thaksin has been living in self-exile since 2008, but he looms far from the elections. Its affiliated parties have won all elections in Thailand since 2001, relying on the loyalty of the rural and urban poor.
In Bangkok, Sudarat Keyuraphan, candidate for the post of prime minister in Thaksin's largest party, Pheu Thai, said he had noted euphoria at the urn.
The junta party, which proposes the civilian prime minister, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, to the post of prime minister who became army chief, is trying to stay in power. Prayut overthrew the civilian government of Thaksin's younger sister, Yingluck, in 2014.
For the 2019 elections, the junta has drafted electoral rules to limit the number of seats that major parties – including Pheu Thai – can win.
A junta-appointed 250-member senate and a new proportional system would allow Prayut and the junta party – Phalang Pracharat – to take pole position.
With Senate votes, the party only needs 126 seats in the lower house to get a parliamentary majority. He can easily cross this line in alliance with smaller parties.
However, Pheu Thai needs 376 seats in the lower house to command a general majority.
[ad_2]
Source link
