7M 1ST-TIME VOTERS MAY PROVE DECISIVE
They may sway results on who will lead the kingdom
EXCITEMENT is coursing through the nation ahead of today’s vote, which will determine whether the army that grabbed power in 2014 can hold onto it through the ballot box.
Rival convoys sent loud messages across the capital here yesterday in a last-minute dash for votes in what analysts expect to be a cliffhanger election.
Thailand’s traditional split between former premier Thaksin Shinawatraaligned and pro-junta factions will be tested by the entry of more than seven million first-time voters aged between 18 and 25, and new parties joining the fray.
The most prominent is Future Forward, led by telegenic billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who has commandeered the hearts of millennials with slick campaigns and calls to unwind junta power.
Thai hip-hop sensation Rap Against Dictatorship (RAD) has also weighed in with a new caustic attack called “250 Bootlickers” — aimed at a rubber-stamp upper house, which will be instrumental in appointing the prime minister.
RAD’s first song What My Country’s Got? — a indictment of military oppression — garnered 60 million views and earned a rebuke from Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o Cha, though the rappers faced no legal censure.
The election contest played out in duelling images on Friday, two days before the first vote since a 2014 army coup.
Prayuth crooned to voters at a rally here, where he made his pitch to stay on as prime minister.
Almost simultaneously, Thaksin, whose affiliated parties remain hugely popular, spoke at his daughter’s wedding reception in Hong Kong.
“We will win for sure,” said Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon whose loyalists have won every election since 2001.
He did not elaborate in the videoclip put online by media outlet Khaosod English, but urged guests at the reception to vote.
Seated beside him was the elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, who shocked the country last month by accepting a Thaksinlinked party’s nomination for prime minister.
She was quickly disqualified by the election commission and the party was later banned from the race for breaking a taboo of involving the monarchy in politics.
Prayuth appeared for the first time at an official campaign, waving as a massive television screen showed a video of his years as prime minister, harvesting rice and hugging children.
Singing and collecting roses from supporters, he promised to “save the country, save the religion, save the monarchy” and lead the country out of divisive politics of the past 15 years.
The army has stepped in twice in a decade to end mostly middleclass, urban and royalist protests against Thaksin-linked governments, who accuse the populist politician of undermining traditional Thai values.
Backers of the military have warned Thailand could plunge back into political unrest in case of a return to power for Pheu Thai, which has been under investigation for “outside influence” by Thaksin — an inquiry that could see it disbanded.
Prayuth’s party, Palang Pracharat, adopted a new slogan ahead of the vote that features his nickname — “Choose peace, choose ‘Uncle Tu’.”
Thaksin, who was toppled as prime minister in the earlier coup of 2006, has lived in self-imposed exile after a court convicted him of corruption in 2008.
Several pro-Thaksin parties are contesting today’s election, including the Pheu Thai party, whose government was overthrown in 2014 by Prayuth.
Pheu Thai is leading the charge for a “democratic front” of parties against Palang Pracharat, a new military proxy party backing Prayuth.
“We are here to lift you out of despair,” its prime ministerial candidate, Sudarat Keyuraphan, told cheering supporters.
Pheu Thai’s rival, the Democrat Party, also held a final rally here.
Pro-establishment and probusiness, it hopes to hold the key to power in case of an inconclusive election, returning its leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to the prime minister’s office.
Polls indicate Pheu Thai will again be the top vote-winner, and it hopes with its allies to make up the largest bloc in the 500-seat House of Representatives.
But that may not matter, because the new constitution written by the junta allows Parliament’s upper house, the 250-seat Senate, to vote with the lower house to choose the prime minister — and the Senate is entirely appointed by the junta.
Under those rules, pro-military parties would need to win only 126 seats in the House of Representatives to win a majority in a combined vote, while opposition parties would need 376 seats.
Parties and candidates were allowed to campaign until 6pm yesterday. Polls will be open from 8am to 5pm.