Thai poll set for Feb 24 as junta lifts campaign ban
Thailand will hold a muchdelayed general election on February 24, 2019, the Election Commission said yesterday, after the junta lifted a ban on political activity it imposed after taking power in a coup in 2014.
The junta imposed the strict ban on political activity citing the need for order after months of street protests against the democratically elected government of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The election, which many hope will restore democracy in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy, will likely pit the populist political movement backed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and supported by many in rural areas against the military and royalist establishment.
The Bangkok-based establishment seized power in successive coups in 2006 and 2014 and now has its own proxy political parties.
The junta began easing the ban in September, when it allowed political parties to resume organising ahead of an election expected in February.
It still retains sweeping powers to maintain law and order despite lifting the ban, including conducting searches, freezing assets, and making arrests.
The Election Commission confirmed the February 24 election date yesterday, just before a statement announcing the ban on political activity had been lifted was published in the Royal Gazette.
“The people and political parties will be able to take part in political activities during this period leading up to the election in accordance with the constitution,” the statement said..
Thailand last held a successful election in 2011 but the Election Commission said it was ready to go ahead with the February 24 poll.
“The lifting of the ban means political activities can resume, including political campaigning, but this has to be done under the law,” said Sawang Boonmee, deputy election commission secretary general.
Junta leader Prayut Chan-ocha meanwhile is widely tipped to make a bid for the premiership after elections, after years insisting he was compelled by duty to seize power.
While the political ban muzzled rival parties, he has been criss-crossing the country offering economic handouts, photo opportunities and building alliances with local politicos.
A military aligned political party has built wide alliances, even scooping up defectors from rivals including Pheu Thai, the Shinawatra-backed party dumped from office in the 2014 coup.
Yesterday, a smiling Prayut posed for selfies with Miss Universe contestants visiting Bangkok for the finals.
Despite lifting the campaigning ban, the junta still retains tools to silence its critics including arbitrary detention, according to legal experts.
“It’s to be seen how far the authorities will let people rally at certain ‘restricted’ places like at the Government House or near the palace,” said Anon Chawalawan, of legal monitoring group iLaw.
Thailand’s junta says it was forced to seize power in 2014 to restore order after months of street protests paralysed the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s younger sister.
The siblings both live in self-exile to avoid jail over convictions in Thailand.
Parties loyal to the Shinawatra clan have won every Thai general election since 2001, despite being hit by two coups and the removal of three prime ministers by pro-establishment courts.
But it is unclear how much electoral support the family and their parties will draw at the polls after years of being harried by the junta and the courts.