Skip to main content

The 2011 National Thai Election

The Kingdom of Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, with a free and democratic government—that is what the constitution says. The Head of State is the King of Thailand, King Rama IX, as he is usually referred to in the west. Under him there is an executive consisting of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, an elected parliament, and an independent judiciary. In accordance with the Thai constitution, which requires an election every four years, an election is currently underway in Thailand. On Sunday, the 3rd of July, the people of Thailand will elect a new government. 
The modern Thai government structure dates back to 1932 when an unlikely combination of traditional aristocrats and a westernised upper middle-class Bangkok group compelled the Thai King to agree to a written, democratic constitution, which moved Thailand (Siam, as it was then known) from an autocracy to a democracy. All well and good, however, peace and domestic tranquility was not to ensure. Since that date there have been seventeen constitutions and charters, intermixed with repeated coups, military and militaristic governments, and even the occasional massacre of pro-democracy proponents by the military.
The last such coup was in 2006, when the somewhat reformist, but certainly populist, ‘red shirt’, government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (the winner of two consecutive elections) was overthrown (while he was out of the country) and a (another) military junta took power, which wrote (another) constitution. In 2007, with this new constitution, an election was held in which a pro-Thaksin government came into office. Yet, again, peace and prosperity did not ensure. The anti-red shirt group, the ‘yellow shirts’ (there was a joke in 2008 that one had to carefully choose the colour of one’s shirt), staged a series of disruptive protests, which eventually brought the Thai government down. 
The result of these protests was the assumption of office in late 2008 by the leader of the Democrat Party, which is opposed to the red shirts, the 27th Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Abhisit. The new PM quickly attempted to ‘move on’, restore the economy and ‘heal the wounds’, but his term in office has been marked by ongoing protests and resistance to government. The greatest protest taking place in mid 2010, which was ended with blood on the streets of Bangkok. 
Now, again, the Thai people have the opportunity to select their government. To do this they will elect, in a system of compulsory voting, two houses of parliament. The upper house is partly appointed, and considered a bastion of conservatism. The lower house, the  House of Representatives, is where most of the action takes place, and consists of 480 members, the majority of whom are elected directly, the remainder from party lists and electoral regions. Most elections produce a party with a definite majority, but not always with an absolute majority in the parliament, thus lots of wheeling and dealing takes place to form a government.

The principal players in the current election are: Mr Abhisit, the current PM. Ms Thaksin, who is, amongst other things, the sister of the deposed and currently exiled former Prime Minister, who is leading the new red shirt party, in her first parliamentary performance. Last, but by no means least, is the Thai military, who so far have repeatedly stated that they will not involved themselves in politics. 
As part of the process of informing my readers of these things, here is a sample of election posters seen by myself. These come from southern Thailand, where I am as I write, however, when I return to Bangkok I will post some posters from the capital city of Thailand.
My thanks to the following for the information presented here: wikipedia, http://tambon.blogspot.com/, and the various Thai English language newspapers and journals.


---------------------------



election vehicles, common in Thailand.

lots of signs, everywhere.

A red shirt campaign commitment.
Seems just a tad optimistic.

When visiting the city and province of Phatthalung I came across
a group of red shirt folk. From their demeanour, I gather fairly senior folk.


I don't know anything about this guy,
but he makes a point.


From the Muslim south.

The Democrat party, and Mr Abhisit.


The lady herself, Ms Thaksin.


Red shirt trucks.










Some are demanding a No protest vote.
The goal is to remove the legitimacy of the
resultant government. I gather that portraying
humans as animals is rather insulting in Buddhist Thailand.




I am not sure about this, found a batch of these in
Nakhon Si town, on phone booths. Is this a joke
or political commentary?



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pattani — the ‘deep’ south of Thailand

First, some advisories: A. ADVISORY: For the last few years and decades there has been an ongoing insurgency in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat (the 'deep south' of Thailand). An average of 600 people have been killed per year between 2004-9. The Australian government strongly urges its citizens not to visit these provinces: "do not travel". Having said this there is no blood on the streets, and life goes on normally for the vast majority of people. In comparison approximately 400 people die every year from traffic accidents in the same region. You have been advised. B. Getting there. There seems to be a scam carried out by the local tour operators to persuade travellers to take mini-buses on journeys between the towns in southern Thailand. These mini-buses cost several times as much as a normal bus. For example, I was quoted 1000 baht (~$35) between Trang and Pattani ~250kms, as compared to 200 baht for a VIP bus. A clear difference. Take the l

Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers—A Critical Critique

The late science fiction author Robert Heinlein was noted for many things, and one of these is controversy. During his life he never shied away from contentious issues, rather he seems to have actively sought them out, both on and off the page. His writing was always provocative, and the most provocative example of this was his 1959 novel "Starship Troopers". The novel was written in a few weeks, prompted by left-wing lobbying for a ban on USA nuclear weapon testing. Heinlein, a strident conservative, vehemently disagreed with this proposal. While the meaning and import of the novel has been debated (it won the 1960 Hugo and is still in print), the story conveys the author's conservative anguish on the perceived flaws of contemporary political and social life. The novel depicts and praises a future government with a sharply limited voting franchise, lauds an authoritarian military, and strongly criticises popular democracy. Essentially, the novel endorses conservative,

Sukhothai Historical Park

Sukhotahi—"Dawn of Happiness" Sukhothai ("suk-hot-thai") is a province in northern Thailand, approximately 400kms distant from Bangkok. The principal attraction of the province is the 'old town' of Sukhothai, as it is referred to locally. This old town is now an archaeological site, however, between the early 13th to the early 15th centuries it was the capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom. At its height this Kingdom stretched southwards down the long Malay Peninsular. The principal ruler of Sukhothai was King Ramkamhaeng (c. 1280-1318), who is revered in the popular culture of the province. This Kingdom was the first Siamese (Thai) state, and oversaw the developement of Thai culture, including its language and alphabet. At its beginnings the new Sukhothai state was on the western edge of the dominant Cambodian Empire, from which it had earlier secured independence, however, as the centuries past the Cambodian Empire declined, and the Thai people achieved gr