Thailand votes, but will the military listen?

Voters are tipped to hand Prayut, the former army chief and coup leader, a resounding defeat after a campaign that played out as a struggle between a younger generation calling for change and the conservative, royalist establishment.

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Main opposition Phu Thai party, fronted by former billionaire’s daughter Chieftain Thaksin Shinawatra was ahead in the final opinion polls.

But in a state where victory at the ballot box is often overshadowed by coups and court orders, there are fears the military could raise the prospect of new instability.

At Phiu Thai’s closing rally on Friday, main candidate Paetongtarn Shinawatra told a massive crowd of 10,000 that Sunday would be a “historic day where Thailand will transition from junta rule to democratic rule”.

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Voting began at 8:00 am (0100 GMT) at 95,000 polling stations spread from the lush forested mountains of the north to the idyllic sands of southern beaches.

A 90 percent turnout in last Sunday’s early round of polling points shows an electorate looking for change, but the opposition faces an uphill battle to regain power thanks to a junta-scripted 2017 constitution .

The new prime minister will be elected jointly by the 500 elected parliamentarians and 250 Senate members appointed by Prayut’s junta – stacking the deck in favor of the military.

In the controversial last election of 2019, Prayut at the head of a complex multi-party coalition backed by the Senate to become prime minister.

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– Resistance legacy –

This is the first election since massive youth-led pro-democracy protests swept across Bangkok in 2020 demanding curbs on the power and spending of Thailand’s king – breaking a long-standing taboo on questioning the monarchy .

The demonstrations began as Covid-19 restrictions were imposed and dozens of leaders were arrested, but their energy fueled growing support for the more hardline opposition Move Forward Party (MFP).

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, toured the streets of Bangkok in an open-top jeep on Saturday and urged voters to “give the younger generation an opportunity to govern”.

While the MFP is seeking support from millennials and Gen Z voters – who make up nearly half of the 52 million-strong electorate – Phu Thai’s base is in the rural northeast where voters are still grateful for the welfare policies implemented by Thaksin. Are. 2000s.

Meanwhile, Prayut has made a nationalist pitch to older voters, portraying himself as the only candidate capable of saving Thailand from chaos and ruin.

But he has trailed badly in the polls, blamed for a creaking economy and a weak recovery from the pandemic, which battered the state’s vital tourism industry.

Rights groups accused him of overseeing a major crackdown on basic freedoms, with a sharp increase in prosecutions under Thailand’s harsh royal defamation laws.

The country has seen a dozen coups over the last century and has been locked in a cycle of street protests, coups and court orders disbanding political parties over the past two decades.

The Shinawatra family’s bitter feud with the royal-military establishment has been at the center of the drama, with Thaksin ousted in a 2006 coup and his sister Yingluck ousted by Prayut in 2014.

An unclear or disputed result this time could trigger a new round of demonstrations and instability.

Adding to the uncertainty, rumors are already swirling that the MFP could be dissolved by court order – the same fate that befell its predecessor, the Future Forward party, after performing unexpectedly well in the 2019 election.

The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.