Thai people will vote on Sunday. the most popular progressive party has promised sweeping reforms to the country's political system.
But this week, a 53-year-old woman joined her teenage son in scorching Bangkok to catch a glimpse of Pita Limjaroenrath, the charismatic leader of the Forward Forward Party. whose calls to kick the military out of politics and reform the monarchy inspired a generation and turned the election results upside down.
Pita Limjaroenrath, leader of the Forward party and prime ministerial candidate. Photo: Atit Peravongmeta/Reuters
«Back then, I thought the calls for reform were too radical,» Ms Thanapatkunlavat told The Telegraph during Thursday's open-air debate. “But seeing the enthusiasm of young people like my son, I think they want change now… so I support this new generation.”
Thailand heads to the polls on Sunday in an election that is described as “ the most important to date.”
Issues including economic stagnation, military conscription, and even cannabis policy were heatedly debated during the long campaign. But at the heart of Sunday's vote is a struggle for democracy led by young people demanding an end to the cycle of coups and military-backed governments.
was in a political stalemate with poor economic performance punctuated by two military coups, two constitutions… and the dissolution of major political parties. said Titinan Pongsudirak, a professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
“But what fundamentally distinguishes Thailand's 2023 elections is the rise of a new Forward Movement party,” he told the Telegraph. «Thailand's new front and the battle cry of its young generation is the reform and adjustment of the military and the monarchy.»
Move Forward is the successor to Future Forward, a progressive party that emerged five years ago and shattered all expectations by becoming the third largest party since the 2019 election.
When the Thai establishment responded with accusations that disbanded Future Forward and banned its leaders from politics, it sparked unprecedented pro-democracy protests. They saw the country's strict lèse-majesté laws that forbid and punish criticism of the country's royal family, widely raised publicly for the first time.
Although these demonstrations were eventually suppressed, they left an indelible mark on Thai society. Once-taboo topics such as lèse-majesté laws are now openly discussed, with many protesters running as Forward Candidates.
“The mood of the era has changed,” said Mr. Limjaroenrath, an alumnus Harvard. who is leading the way forward, which currently ranks second in the polls. He told Bloomberg that those who can lose are «the richest one percent, that is, the elite, the military and the money.»
At Thursday's debate, hosted between a gleaming mall and a concrete skytrain stop in central Bangkok, it was hard to find a young man who didn't support Mr. Limjaroenrath's vision of Thailand's future.
«I want to create a party» Moving forward because I like their policies and they are clear about what they want to do,” said Titirad Padyenjay, a 24-year-old administrative assistant. «Most of my friends want Forward to win, and we all want to end [Prime Minister] Prayut Chan-ocha's government and the role of the military in politics.»
Prayut Chan-o-cha, the current Prime Minister of Thailand Photo: Stringer/Reuters of the under-26 electorate, the party recently gained about 34% votes, which suggests that she has attracted more voters like Ms. Thanapatkunlavat. The way forward to the government is thorny.
After Sunday's vote, the parties will struggle to get enough support to form a coalition government in what is likely to be a protracted process. The cards are stacked against pro-democracy parties as the military-appointed senate has huge influence over who becomes the country's prime minister.
Pheu Thai is a poll-leading populist party led by Pathongtarn Shinawatra, daughter and niece of two popular prime ministers ministers ousted in recent coups is the most obvious ally of the Movement Forward.
Pathongtarn Shinawatra is the daughter and niece of two popular prime ministers who were ousted in recent coups. Credit: Jorge Silva/Reuters
On track to win more than half of the votes in the lower house, but the Senate's influence over who becomes prime minister could get in the way.
A line of disagreement between the two leaders over how to reform the monarchy also means that they «will not become easy comrades after the vote,» said Prof. Pongsudhirak.
And the threat of dissolution threatens both. Few expect pro-war parties to cede power without a fight, and complaints have already been filed against pro-democracy leaders. This approach comes with a risk: if voters feel their choice has been derailed, it “is likely to cause social unrest, resulting in all stakes being taken down,” Professor Pongsudirak said.
“This election will either lead to settlement in Thailand to go deeper into a long-term conservative-royalist bureaucratic state, or to perk up with a qualitatively different government that could move the country forward again,” he added. Thailand's elite, but for now, there is little to dampen their excitement about the possibility of a new type of government.
«We have a cycle of elections, coups, elections, coups in Thailand,» said Ms. Thanapatkunlawat. 18 year old son of Jirawat. «I hope this election breaks the pattern.»
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