Thailand installs a real estate mogul as prime minister

Unlike Singapore, which elected a new president flawlessly, Thailand's politics was, as always, volatile and even turbulent. Our source, Wikipedia, reports that the Thailand general elections were held on May 14, 2023 to elect 500 members of its Parliament, the House of Representatives. The election turnout was a record-breaking 75.22%.

Most Thais expected US-educated Pita Limjaroenrat to become prime minister since his Move Forward Party won most seats. But he was outsmarted and outflanked by a real estate mogul, Srettha Travisin, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, who surreptitiously allied with pro-monarchy and pro-military parties. It can be recalled that immediately after the election results were announced, Pita's Move Forward Party immediately formed a coalition with the other pro-democracy, anti-military parties, which had a majority in the lower house, including Pheu Thai. But not having gotten the magic number, he was unable to form a government, after being functionally blocked by allies of the monarchy and military in the Senate. Pita would have been pro-US and pro-democracy. But the military allies did not like Pita's ideology.

Pheu Thai then assumed the lead, dissolving its alliance with Move Forward and allying instead with conservative, pro-military parties. It then nominated real estate tycoon Travisin as prime minister. He was elected by parliament on August 22. It can be recalled that Thailand experienced a series of political crises highlighted by the infamous military coup d'etat in 2014, which ousted the caretaker government of then Prime Minister Yingchuk Shinawatra. The military then installed a junta called the NCPO or the National Council for Peace and Order which formed a government under the leadership of former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha. The NCPO drafted a Constitution in 2016 and rammed it to the people by a simulated referendum. All forms of protests were stifled and oppositionists were arrested and detained.

A sham election was held in 2019 where Prayut was elected as prime minister in a highly-controversial political exercise. Getting inspiration from the Philippines' bloodless People Power Revolution of 1986, the Thai people staged a series of demonstrations against the premiership of Prayuth but later expanded to include numerous long-overlooked issues in Thai society, and unprecedented demands to reform the monarchy. The Thai royal family is protected by a lese majeste organic law, making the Kingdom of Thailand one of the longest-running monarchies in the whole world. Even though the protests largely died down due to crackdown, repression, and COVID-19 restrictions, it was anticipated that activism could resurge in this election and afterwards.

As it turned out, the end of 2022 saw the split in the ruling Palang Pracharath Party between Prayut and his close associate Prawit Wongsuwon, after the latter showed accommodation towards the main opposition Pheu Thai Party. Prayut was expected to join the new United Thai Nation Party along with his loyalists in the Palang Pracharath Party. Forty politicians, including 34 incumbent MPs from both coalition and opposition camps, also resigned from their parties to join Bhumjai Thai Party to increase their winning chances in this election. On December 23, 2022, Prayut announced his intention to apply for membership of the United Thai Nation Party, as well as becoming the party's sole prime ministerial candidate. But subsequent events proved him unsuccessful.

Pita was seen as the new hope for the democratic segments of the Thai electorates. But the pro-military and pro-monarchy forces tagged him as a most probable puppet of America. That is why a real estate mogul was seen by the conservatives as a most viable compromise to navigate the more turbulent years in the immediate future for Thai politics. It is a source of wonder, however, that despite Thai's volatile politics, the Thais outperformed the Filipinos in economic development in the last five years. Maybe it's not really Thailand's political volatility. It is rather the Philippines' dirty and deceptive politics that is bringing our economy down.