Thailand - Understand & Survival (Chapter)

HISTORY & POLITICS

POLITICS

2004

Indian Ocean tsunami

kills over 5000 people

in Thailand and

damages tourism and

fi shing industries;

Muslim insurgency

reignites in Deep

South.

2006

King Bhumibol

celebrates 60th

year on the throne;

Thaksin government

overthrown in a coup

and prime minister

forced into exile.

2008

Cambodia

successfully

petitions Unesco

to list Phra Wihan

as a World Heritage

Site, reigniting

border tensions with

Thailand.

2008

Yellow Shirt, pro-

royalist activists

seize Bangkok’s

international airports,

causing weeklong

shut-down.

Politics

Government
Much of the political drama that has unfolded since the 2006 coup involves
a long-standing debate about how to structure Thailand’s legislative body
and, ultimately, who gets greater control. The National Assembly (or parlia-
ment of Thailand) currently has 630 members divided into two chambers
(House of Representatives and the Senate) with a mix of seats being popu-
larly elected and elected by party vote. The ratio of seats being popularly
elected changes with each replacement constitution. The 1997 constitution,
dubbed the People’s Constitution, called for both chambers to be fully elect-
ed by popular vote. This power to the people paved the way for Thaksin
and his well-loved Thai Rak Thai party to gain nearly complete control.
The military and the elites have since rescinded such a popular structure,
often arguing that full democratic representation doesn’t work in Thailand.
When Thai voters go to the polls they cast a ballot for the constituency
MP (member of parliament) and for their preferred party, the results of
which are used to determine individual winners and proportional repre-
sentation outcomes for the positions assigned by party vote.
The prime minister is the head of the government and is elected via
legislative vote by the majority party. Under the current constitution,
the prime minister must be a sitting MP.
Voting in Thailand is compulsory for all eligible citizens (over the age
of 18) but members of the clergy are not allowed to vote. Voter turn-
out for national elections has steadily increased since the new millen-
nium with 78% of registered voters casting ballots in 2007. Charges of
vote-buying typically accompany every election. Anecdotally, local party
leaders make their rounds through the villages handing out money for
the promise of a vote. In some cases, villagers will accept money from
competing parties and report that they have no loyalty at the ballot box.
The ballots include a ‘no’ vote if the voter wishes to choose ‘none of the
above’. It is also common to ‘spoil’ the ballot, or disqualify it, by writing
on it or defacing it. During the 2005 general election a large number of
ineligible ballots contained anti-Thaksin messages.

Media
Southeast Asian governments are not typically fond of uncensored me-
dia outlets, but Thailand often bucked this trend throughout the 1990s,
even ensuring press freedoms in its 1997 constitution, albeit with fairly
broad loopholes. That era came to an end with the ascension of Thaksin
Shinawatra, a telecommunications billionaire, at the beginning of the
21st century. With Thaksin winning the prime ministership and his party
holding a controlling majority, the press encountered the kind of censor-

The Democrat

Party (Phak

Prachathipat)

founded in

1946 is now the

longest-surviving

political party in

Thailand.