Prime Minister Election

[Gaybutton]

The whole electoral process is a sham.

I really had hoped the legislature would do the right thing and uphold the will of the people. That did not happen.

"Of course dear. What did you expect?"
- Gladys Cooper (Mrs. Higgins), 'My Fair Lady'

I've used that quote many times when it comes to things that happen and the way they happen in Thailand. None of what happened this time makes it to my "I Don't Get It" list. Unfortunately I do get it.

I can only hope whoever does emerge as Thailand's next Prime Minister will be someone who is actually good for Thailand and the Thai people - and gets to complete the term of office without yet another coup.

[Jun]

I can only hope whoever does emerge as Thailand's next Prime Minister will be someone who is actually good for Thailand and the Thai people - and gets to complete the term of office without yet another coup.

The generals appear to have written a constitution which allows them to control who runs the country and what they can do, without needing to resort to coups.
Therefore making coups less likely, although at the expense of some level of permanent military control ?

I presume they could ignore or suppress protests & any escalation beyond that seems unlikely.

[Gaybutton]

The generals appear to have written a constitution which allows them to control who runs the country and what they can do, without needing to resort to coups.

I agree. As long as the status quo remains in place, what we've seen happen over the past few weeks is going to be the norm. Will of the people? Overwhelming election results? No problem. Just ignore and disregard it.

Meanwhile several student groups are trying to incite major protests. If they succeed I hope everything remains peaceful. Nothing good ever comes from violence.

Again, wherever protests may break out, STAY AWAY.
________________________________________________________________

Thailand braces for mass protests after parliamentary ‘coup’ against Pita

By THE NATION

July 20, 2023

Move Forward supporters protesting at Democracy Monument on Wednesday laid out plans for more rallies to support their “martyred” party leader, Pita Limjaroenrat.

Supporters called the mass rally at 5pm, straight after the Constitutional Court suspended Pita pending its ruling on whether he was unqualified to contest the May 14 election because he owned shares in media firm iTV.

In what his supporters deemed a heroic scene, Pita stood up and informed Parliament that he had received a letter from the court to say he was suspended from duty as an MP.

Before leaving the assembly hall, he declared that Thailand had changed since the election, with Move Forward and its supporters having completed half of their journey to change the country. Move Forward won the election on a promise to oust the military from politics and reform Article 112, the lese majesty law that shields the monarchy from scrutiny and criticism.

Pita then raised his fist and walked out of the hall to a standing ovation from 150 Move Forward MPs, many of whom had tears in their eyes.

His opponents, including most of the 250 junta-appointed senators who oppose changes to the lese majesty law, also joined forces with MPs from the outgoing government coalition to block Pita from being renominated as a prime minister candidate.

As the Constitutional Court announced its 7:2 majority decision to suspend Pita, many of his supporters waiting outside Parliament rushed to the front gate, attempting to break through the police barricade to get inside.

Some lit flares and threw papers through the gate but there were no reports of injuries and protesters dispersed quickly.

The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration then made a Facebook call for protesters to gather at Democracy Monument at 5pm.

“People can no longer tolerate this. Today let’s conduct a funeral at Democracy Monument for senators and Constitutional Court judges who refuse to respect the people’s will,” the post read.

Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa announced he was cancelling his schedule to join the rally, and urged all supporters of democracy to come along.

At 5pm, a crowd of several hundred people gathered at Democracy Monument, which was wrapped in a banner that read “Pita, prime minister of the people’s consensus”.

Protest leaders then addressed the crowd, demanding justice for Pita in the face of “persecution” by the Constitutional Court and the Election Commission. They said senators had blocked election-winner Move Forward’s democratic right to lead the next government. They also alleged that outgoing Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha was behind a conspiracy to block Pita from power.

“We are being pushed aside. We are confronting a group of people in power in this country. They trampled us and are trying to bury us. But we are seeds, the more they trample us, the more we will grow,” Arnon told demonstrators. He also reminded the crowd that Move Forward had grown from the 81 MP seats its predecessor Future Forward won in the 2019 election.

“Now, Move Forward is the No 1 party. This year, we won 14 million votes. In four years, we’ll definitely get 20 million votes,” he said.

“You destroyed Pita now. But in four years, you’ll face Rangsiman Rome. His name already tells you that Rome is not built in one day.” Rangsiman is a Move Forward MP, as well as party spokesman and deputy secretary-general.

At 10pm, protesters issued a statement containing three demands.

It called for the immediate resignation of senators, for the eight-party Move Forward-led coalition to remain united, and for the coalition not to compromise on their election promises to the people.

Earlier, some senators pledged to support Pita’s prime ministerial bid if he renounced his stance on amending Article 112. However, the Move Forward leader refused to back down.

The rally at Democracy Monument ended with a mock funeral for senators and court judges as protesters placed cremation flowers into a coffin, before dispersing at 10.30pm.

Chiang Mai saw a similar mock cremation on the same day, as Move Forward supporters gathered at the Pratu Tha Pae city gate at 8.30pm. About 100 protesters burned an effigy representing the Constitutional Court.

Pita and Move Forward supporters have already announced schedules for more rallies.

Kasetsart University students will call for senators to resign during a rally at their Bangkok main campus from 5pm on Friday (July 21).

On Sunday, anti-coup activist Sombat Boonngamanong will lead a rally at Pathumwan Square. His group plans to march between MBK shopping mall, Siam Square, and CentralWorld to protest “dictatorship”.

Story and photos: https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand ... s/40029538

[Jun]

Nothing good ever comes from violence.

If you replace "ever" with "usually", I would agree.

Quite a few successful European democracies got there by violence, so in those instances, something good did come of it. Despots tend not to cede power unless forced to.

On average, I suspect the violence doesn't work, as one useless regime is replaced by another. So several attempts may be needed.

Violence might be entirely justified in a country like Myanmar, with a simply dreadful kleptocracy. However, for a slightly unsatisfactory regime, I doubt it is worth the risk.
Meanwhile democracies tend toward voting themselves excessive borrowing & debt, which endangers long term stability.

[Gaybutton]

If you replace "ever" with "usually", I would agree.

Ok, I can accept that.

Still, if protests and/or violence breaks out, it is no place for foreigners. I hope those currently in Thailand have sense enough to realize that.

[bkkguy]

What's wrong with that ?
The whole electoral process is a sham.

given the Thanathorn/Future Forward history, Pita more than anybody should have known to get to an absolutely unambiguous position about the ITV shares before nominating as a party list MP rather than some vague discussion with the EC and hope he was right in his justification - he did manage to dispose of the shares after nominating, why not before?

this would only remove half of his problems of course, Acticle 112 amendment was a major campaign pledge, but he could have handled that with more subtlety as well

if you want to win a sham election you just have to play the game better than your already well-known opponents!

[Dodger]

........given the Thanathorn/Future Forward history, Pita more than anybody should have known to get to an absolutely unambiguous position about the ITV shares before nominating as a party list MP rather than some vague discussion with the EC and hope he was right in his justification - he did manage to dispose of the shares after nominating, why not before?

this would only remove half of his problems of course, Acticle 112 amendment was a major campaign pledge, but he could have handled that with more subtlety as well

if you want to win a sham election you just have to play the game better than your already well-known opponents!

I couldn't agree more with each if the three points you made.

You would think that someone as educated as Pita is - holding degrees from Harvard and MIT - would be smart enough to eliminate any chinks in his armor BEFORE the nomination process. And Article 112 should have been temporarily watered-down and shoved to the back-burner until the chess game with the Senators was over. I agree, his lack of subtlety certainly didn't help matters.

I can't wait to see who ends up in the new coalition....

[Gaybutton]

You would think that someone as educated as Pita is - holding degrees from Harvard and MIT - would be smart enough to eliminate any chinks in his armor BEFORE the nomination process.

Apparently as smart as he is, he's not so good at how to play the game. I remember years ago a teacher friend told me about one of her most gifted students taking a standardized test and one of the questions was to select the one item on the list that doesn't belong: goldfish, shark, bear, trout. He picked shark. Later the teacher asked him about it and wanted him to explain why he picked shark instead of bear. His answer was the shark was the only one on the list that doesn't belong because it is the only one that does not have a backbone. The teacher explained to him that he found a flawed question, but the goal is to get a high test score. He knew the answer they want was bear, but he was absolutely right. So, he was smart, but needed to learn how to play the game.

It is his adamant stance on amending the Lese Majeste laws that seems to be what cost Pita becoming Prime Minister. I wish I could understand what was so important about that. I must be missing something because dealing with that issue would have been way at the bottom of my priorities list, if that issue would have been there at all. Obviously there is something about it that he sees, but I just don't see.

My major disappointment about Pita losing is not the fact that he lost, but the fact that the election in reality meant nothing and a handful of unelected, military backed appointed senators had the power to undermine the will of the people - and they did just that. Wasn't there someone in the USA shrieking about stolen elections?

As far as I can tell, most Thais I talk to are very disappointed and angry, but not to the point where they would participate in protests or riots.

Now I have three hopes:

1. Pita will still be a major voice in Thai politics
2. That whoever emerges as Thailand's next prime minister will be just as good, if not better, than I hoped Pita would be.
3. That any protests will be peaceful and not escalate into violence

The next round of voting is Thursday, July 27.

However, IS it actually over? I'm not going to copy and paste this article, but it does open the possibility that Pita could still become Prime Minister after all: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... -pita-snub

[Dodger]

It is his adamant stance on amending the Lese Majeste laws that seems to be what cost Pita becoming Prime Minister. I wish I could understand what was so important about that. I must be missing something because dealing with that issue would have been way at the bottom of my priorities list, if that issue would have been there at all. Obviously there is something about it that he sees, but I just don't see.

This had me scratching my head as well but after talking to a few of my close Thai friends things became a bit clearer.

According to them, a growing number of Thais (including almost the entire younger generation, a growing percentage of middle-aged Thais, and some in the older generation as well) are reaching the breaking point in regards to the distribution of wealth in the Kingdom - with something like 6% of the population controlling >90% of the wealth which has been reported publicly. It's this "distribution of wealth" that seems to be at the root of their concerns.

Of course many factors play into this but things like corruption, business monopolies, power and greed, and the current political structure, are all viewed as being major contributors. The Move Forward platform was (is) totally focused on instituting a truly democratic form of government where things like corruption, business monopolies, power and greed, and the current political structure quite obviously have to be dealt with first before any measurable progress can be made to balance this distribution of wealth to benefit Thailand's working class and middle-class people.

According to the Thai people that I've talked to, the Lese Majesté Laws, the way they are apparently written, place some restrictions on "freedom of speech" which has them concerned - at a time when free speech is needed the most in support of a truly democratic government It appears logical that this would be the reason why Pita openly supports a proposal to modify the Lese Majesté Laws.

Just being a visitor to Thailand and not being a Thai national I have never read the Lese Majesté" laws myself, nor do I claim to hold any personal opinion regarding these laws. I'm simply conveying the opinions of a few Thai nationals who do have the right to hold such opinions.

As we all know, Thailand ranks as one of the most corrupt countries in the World. It will take more than one person, one party, or one election, to start to dismantle the corruption, and this probably won't happen in years...it will probably take decades at the very least. In the mean time I plan to just continue doing what I do best - and that's enjoying the environment and its fringe benefits as a happy expat - while allowing the natives to worry about the rest.

[Gaybutton]

I plan to just continue doing what I do best - and that's enjoying the environment and its fringe benefits as a happy expat - while allowing the natives to worry about the rest.

That is the smart and safe thing to do. We can analyze about Thai politics and scratch our heads about it all we want, but in the end it really has little, if anything, to do with the daily lives of expats. None of the current political situation has any direct effect on us. As for the current political struggle for the Prime Minister office, nothing I know of has even been mentioned about foreign tourists and expats, so if anything changes for us, it won't be any time soon..