Explainer | Thailand’s election explained: a battle royale for junta’s Prayuth Chan-ocha and the Shinawatras
- Five years after the latest in a long string of coups, democracy is back in town in Thailand
- Or at least, that’s what it looks like. But in Sunday’s election, winning the most votes and winning power are not the same thing
But with just three days to the landmark vote, the consensus among most observers is that the chances of such an outcome are slim.
The best case scenario is that the two warring camps – military-royalists on one side, and rural-backed democrats on another, strike a grand bargain to jointly govern the country and end a decades-long stand off that has resulted in two coups, bouts of political violence and anaemic economic growth.
The big fear however is that junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha – leader of the 2014 coup – will refuse to hand over power in the event his political proxies are trounced by the pro-democrat allies of the Shinawatra political family.
That would extend the Thai Royal Army’s outsize influence in the politics of the coup-happy kingdom.
This Week in Asia takes you through six key questions about Sunday’s election.
WHY SO IMPORTANT?
