![]() ![]() He's mainly been a businessman," Dr Raymond says.Īmidst the uncertainty, former Pheu Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and has been living in exile in Dubai, has announced he may return to the country.ĭr Sinpeng says this announcement was a big development, as "it is a really strong indicator that potentially we're seeing a political realignment in Thailand ". "We don't really know the leader who Pheu Thai will nominate. "For Pheu Thai to be able to form a government … it would have to force itself to swallow all that pride - and everything that it fought for - and form an alliance with the very parties that support the military," Dr Sinpeng explains.Īnd in such a scenario, the election-trouncing Move Forward party would find itself in opposition. The party's sweeping reform proposals include ending army conscription, breaking up monopolies, and amending the country's controversial lese majeste law, which criminalises any criticism of the monarchy.īut the party is in an uncomfortable predicament. ![]() Move Forward has "taken on the two most powerful forces in Thai politics: The military and the monarchy", explains Greg Raymond from the Australian National University's Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, who has also worked at the Australian embassy in Bangkok. And it looked like the progressive Move Forward party, led by 42-year-old, Harvard-educated Pita Limjaroenrat, could be a force to be reckoned with. Thailand held a general election on May 14. ![]() Since that 2014 coup, the country has been led by army-chief-turned-prime-minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.Īnd the political framework developed under his watch means anyone challenging the establishment faces a huge uphill climb. " was written to preserve the power of the military and the monarchy, and the political elites," Aim Sinpeng, from the University of Sydney's Department of Government and International Relations, tells ABC RN's Between the Lines.įor example, the constitution "allows for the Senate - which is fully appointed by the military - to decide who will be the prime minister", she explains. ![]()
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