The public resoundingly ended a near-decade of military rule last year, handing an electoral mandate to a progressive party and a forceful prime minister candidate who represented none of the old power makers.
The consensus choice who emerged then to form a government as prime minister was abruptly ousted by a top court this week.
On Thursday evening, when her nomination to become prime minister was put forward, Ms. Paetongtarn told reporters that she is close to her father, who always gives her advice.
Her aunt, Yingluck, Thailand’s first female prime minister, was ousted in a 2014 coup and had to flee the country.
Her uncle, Somchai Wongsawat, was also removed as prime minister when the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of his People Power Party in 2008.
There was a chance that Thai democracy entered a new phase.
A nearly ten-year period of military rule was decisively ended by the electorate last year, electing a progressive party and a strong prime minister nominee who did not represent any of the established elites.
Things have completely changed in just 15 months, and the voters had nothing to do with it. The victorious party has been outlawed, and its nominee cannot run for public office. This past week, a high court abruptly removed the consensus candidate who had emerged as prime minister to form a government.
The 37-year-old heir to a politically significant and divisive Thai dynasty, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was chosen by Parliament to be the nation’s new prime minister on Friday morning.
The decisions made over the past week have been seen by many Thais as the most recent proof that the nation is ruled by a military and royalist establishment determined to suppress the will of the people, sifting the field through the use of the courts and the army.
Politics appeared to be out of limbo for a while, but then Ms. Paetongtarn’s unexpected rise to power ended it. However, it has made voters and political activists who had previously worked within the democratic system even more irate.
Nawaphon Thoopkaew, 23, a Kasetsart University student, said, “I don’t understand what kind of games they are playing.”. And for what purpose?
Ms. Paetongtarn was chosen following a two-day backroom negotiation that started hours after Srettha Thavisin, the former prime minister, was removed from office by the Constitutional Court due to an alleged ethics violation. In the House of Representatives, she received more than the required 247 votes—319 to be exact. There were not any other contenders.
Ms. Paetongtarn, who was clearly nervous, told reporters, “I hope I can do my best to make this country go forward. My hands are shaking.”. “.
She is, however, the daughter of the businessman and former prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. His followers engaged in violent street protests against anti-Thaksin forces for years after he was overthrown by a military coup in 2006. His political parties and the candidates he supported kept winning elections during the roughly 17 years he spent in self-imposed exile.
Miss. Paetongtarn, a former front-runner for Pheu Thai, was one of the selected candidates in the previous year’s election. Her youth offered a potential draw for a voter base that has tended to favor the opposition, which is primarily composed of young people.
She is close to her father, who always gives her advice, Ms. Paetongtarn told reporters on Thursday night when her nomination to become prime minister was announced.
If being a Shinawatra is her greatest advantage, then it is also one of her greatest disadvantages. Few know Thailand’s politics as well as her family does, and they are dangerous.
The first female prime minister of Thailand, Yingluck, was forced to leave the nation after a coup in 2014 and take her aunt’s place. In 2008, the dissolution of her uncle’s People Power Party was ordered by the Constitutional Court, which also resulted in her uncle’s removal from office as prime minister.
Miss. It was unimaginable a few years ago that Mr. Thaksin would once again be at the forefront of Thai politics thanks to Paetongtarn’s ascent. His opponents played a part in triggering his comeback, starting with the Move Forward Party’s win the previous year.
The outcome of the election surprised the establishment, which viewed the party as a serious threat since it had supported amendments to a law that criminalizes criticism of the monarchy. Working with Mr. Thaksin, whose Pheu Thai Party was the second-biggest in the winning coalition, was necessary to stop its ascent.
In the end, Pheu Thai switched sides and sided with the conservatives. It became evident what the trade-off was as soon as Mr. Thaksin unexpectedly returned to Thailand. He never had to spend a day in jail despite receiving an eight-year sentence for abuse of power and corruption.
However, Mr. Thaksin and the establishment appear to be at odds once more. Allegations of defaming the monarchy led to his indictment in June. Concurrently, the legal proceedings against his protégé, Prime Minister Srettha, commenced, culminating in his dismissal by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.
The spotlight is now on Ms. Paetongtarn, who will be watched carefully by the establishment and Mr. Thaksin’s opponents.
A gloomy sense of déjà vu prevails for the 72 million Thais caught in an exhausting cycle of elections, party dissolutions, protests, and coups.
Thailand’s once-booming economy is currently among the weakest in the region as a result of the political unrest. Due in part to the politics, a large number of Thailand’s young professionals are adamant about leaving the nation.
“It indicates that the Thai people’s vote is not very important, as the court removed a democratically elected prime minister and disenfranchised over 14 million voters in a week,” stated Napon Jatusripitak, a visiting fellow with the Thailand Studies Program at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
I see this as a kind of judicial coup that not only overturned the election results but also set a very risky precedent that will enable courts to interfere and restrain the authority of democratically elected governments in the future for a very long time. “.
Conversely, some argue that optimism is still warranted. One notable aspect of Thailand is the high level of voter and civic engagement that persists in spite of all the repression at the top. It is the home of a thriving opposition and outspoken civil society organizations.
“Regardless of how seriously those elections are taken, the idea of having elections is really enshrined in this system, for better or worse,” Michael J. Montesano, associate senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute’s Thailand Studies Program.
The public has not demonstrated against the most recent manipulations in the streets, in contrast to other times when democracy has been subverted. Voting at the polls is something that people should always remember to do, according to the Move Forward Party, which received the most votes in the previous election before being banned.
The People’s Party, the party’s successor, has already vowed to continue the battle. If the party wins elections three times in a row, according to their supporters, it might be more difficult for the establishment to reject the outcome.
