BANGKOK: Vote counting is underway in Thailand’s vital election, with an exit poll suggesting a “victory” for opposition parties in the country. The election pitted progressive opposition political parties promising a return to democracy in Thailand, however, other political parties with royalist generals keen to maintain the status quo after 9-year of military-backed government in the country.
Earlier, voting has started in Thailand’s general election with the daughter of deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as the front-runner. For a nation that has seen a dozen military coups in recent memory, the election is being dubbed as a turning moment, the BBC said. Army officer and current prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is running for reelection. He led a coup in 2014 and captured power.
He is, however, facing a tough challenge from two anti-military groups. Polling on Sunday began at 8:00 am at least at 95,000 polling stations across the country.
500 members of the lower house of parliament will be chosen by around 50 million voters, of whom about 2 million have already voted.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of Thaksin is leading the race under the slogan Pheu Thai (For Thais).
The 36-year-old is banking on her father’s wide patronage network while sticking to the populist message resonating with the country’s rural, low-income regions.
Many lower-class Thais like Thaksin, a billionaire in the telecoms industry, while the elite royalist class has a strong dislike for him. His opponents accused him of corruption, which led to his military overthrow in 2006. Since 2008, he has been residing in exile in London and Dubai and denying the accusations.
“I think, after eight years masses want better politics, better solutions for the country than just coups,” Paetongtarn told the BBC.
In opinion polls, Move Forward, which is led by 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, a former IT CEO, has also been making rapid gains. Young, progressive, and aspirational individuals have been running for office with a straightforward but impactful platform: Thailand needs to change.
According to Thitinan Pongsudhirak, from the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, the change truly has nothing to do with staging another coup. That is a change in the wrong direction. “It’s about modernising the military, the monarchy, for a democratic future, with greater economic performance,” he said.
Prayuth, 69, who seized power from Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in 2014 following months of turmoil, is lagging in opinion polls.
2019 saw the holding of elections in Thailand, although the results revealed no one party had secured a majority. Following a procedure that the opposition deemed unfair, a pro-military party established the government and chose Prayuth as its candidate for prime minister.
It seems improbable that any one party will win an absolute majority of seats in the lower house given the roughly 70 parties running in this election, including some sizable ones.
However, the political structure left behind by the military-drafted 2017 constitution and a number of other extra-electoral authorities can prohibit one party from gaining power even if it wins a majority or has a majority coalition in place.
