All you need to know about the Thai election

May 2, 2023

BANGKOK – Thailand will go to the polls on May 14, with some 70 political parties contesting in the general election. Battle lines have been drawn, largely between the conservative military-backed establishment and the more progressive groups that oppose military coups.

Here are seven things you need to know about the elections:

1. Second election since 2014 coup

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha dissolved Parliament on March 20, paving the way for the second election to be held after Thailand’s latest military coup in 2014.

The last election happened in 2019.

In 2023, more than 6,000 candidates will be contesting for 500 seats in Parliament’s Lower House.

There are more than 52 million eligible voters across Thailand’s 77 provinces.

2. Who wants to be the Prime Minister

Mr Prayut, 69, is hoping to return to the premiership under the new Ruam Thai Sang Chart, also known in English as the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party. Earlier in 2023, he deserted the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) which had nominated him for prime minister in the 2019 polls.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, 77, is also vying for the premiership as the PPRP’s nominee for prime minister.

But popularity polls show both former army chiefs lagging behind opposition Pheu Thai Party’s 36-year-old prime ministerial nominee Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Also on Pheu Thai Party’s ballot for prime minister is property development tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, and party strategist Chaikasem Nitisiri, 74.

Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, 42, is his party’s candidate for prime minister and has also been faring well in opinion surveys.

Other candidates competing for the prime minister post include those from the incumbent coalition, like Bhumjaithai’s Mr Anutin Charnvirakul, 56, and the Democrat party’s Mr Jurin Laksanawisit, 67.

3. Pheu Thai vs Prayut

The election is set to be a showdown mainly between two parties – incumbent Prime Minister Prayut’s UTN and opposition front runner Pheu Thai, an offshoot of Thaksin’s defunct Thai Rak Thai Party.

Since rising to power after staging the 2014 coup, Mr Prayut and other pro-military bodies have sought to limit the influence of Thaksin and his associated political parties.

Although Mr Prayut has parted ways with the military-backed PPRP, he retains the support of the conservative establishment.

Thaksin, 73, lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid jail time for corruption charges he claims are politically motivated.

Thaksin’s allegedly populist policies and growing influence in the early 2000s was seen as a challenge to Thailand’s entrenched royalist political factions. He was also accused of corruption and crony capitalism.

Thaksin-linked parties have won the most seats in every election since 2001, but their governments were ousted by military coups in 2006 and 2014.

With Ms Paetongtarn at the helm of Pheu Thai’s election campaign, opinion polls put the party in the lead to win the most MP seats.

4. New two-ballot system

A total of 500 seats in Parliament’s Lower House are up for grabs. This consists of 400 constituency seats and 100 party-list seats.

Each voter will get two slips at the ballot box, one to vote for a candidate running in their local constituency and another to choose their preferred political party on a national level.

The 400 constituency seats will be given to candidates who win the most votes in each district.

And the 100 party-list seats will be distributed proportionately to political parties based on their share of votes nationwide.

A party, or a group of parties, will need to win, or gather, at least 251 of the 500 Lower House seats to form the government.

Before the election, each party can nominate up to three candidates for prime minister. The party must win at least 25 MP seats to get these names on a parliamentary-ballot.

Parliament, which is made out of the Lower House and the 250-member junta-appointed senate, will then take a vote.

The prime ministerial candidate with at least 376 votes will head the government.

Assuming that a candidate has the entire senate on their side, they will only need 126 votes from elected MPs to win the premiership.

The senate, which in the 2019 election voted overwhelmingly in favour of Mr Prayut as prime minister, could pose a challenge to other parties vying for the premiership.

5. Bread-and-butter issues are key focus

Bread-and-butter issues feature prominently in campaign promises, as inflation and high household debt have weighed down Thailand’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Most parties are promising welfare programmes, like increments to the minimum wage and pension payouts, debt suspension and price guarantees for agricultural goods.

Already, the Pheu Thai Party’s eye-grabbing election promise to pay 10,000 baht (S$390) through a digital wallet to each citizen aged 16 and over, has come under scrutiny, with critics calling it extreme populism.

The state of democracy has become a focal point for those in the opposition camps who are against military intervention in politics.

But Mr Prawit, whose PPRP led the outgoing coalition government, is pitching himself as a force for political reconciliation. The military man who was part of the post-coup government is also attempting to position himself as a unifying force that stands for democracy.

Rewriting the current 2017 junta-backed Constitution is one of the key election promises that anti-coup parties like Move Forward and the Thai Sang Thai party, led by veteran politician Sudarat Keyuraphan, are pushing for.

6. First election since youth protests

All eyes will be on how Thailand’s younger generations vote, as this will be the first election since the 2020 youth-led protests that called for controversial amendments to the Constitution and the status of the monarchy.

The movement sparked significant change in Thai political discourse, giving rise to discussions over reform to strict lese majeste laws that protect the royal institution from insult.

However, only the Move Forward Party, that is popular among younger voters, has been clear in its commitment to pushing for amendments in this area.

Other parties have stayed clear of this issue.

The largest proportion of votes will lie with those aged below 42. This group makes up a little over 40 per cent of the 52 million, with Gen Z (aged 18 to 26) accounting for about 13 per cent and Gen Y (aged 27 to 42) constituting about 29 per cent.

The Gen X (aged 43 to 58) group make up one-third of the electorate.

Together, the Baby Boomer generation (aged 55 to 77) and the oldest age group, the Silent Generation (aged 78 to 98), make up about 26 per cent.

A recent survey by Rangsit University, which polled those aged 18 to 26, showed that the Move Forward’s prime ministerial candidate, Mr Pita, topped young voters’ choice for the next prime minister with 29.2 per cent of respondents’ support.

Pheu Thai’s Ms Paetongtarn came in second with 23 per cent, and UTN’s Mr Prayut scored just 3.3 per cent.

7. Prayut’s two-year limit

The current Constitution imposes an eight-year term-limit on any individual serving as premier. Under these rules, Mr Prayut can only remain as the Prime Minister for two more years.

The former coup leader came to power as the head of a junta government in 2014 after overthrowing the Pheu Thai administration.

And while opponents argued that Mr Prayut’s term ended in 2022 and sought to have him removed last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that his term count only started in 2017, when the current Constitution was enacted.

If he returns as prime minister after the 2023 election, Mr Prayut said that UTN party leader Pirapan Salirathavibhaga will succeed him for the remaining two years he is barred from premiership.

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All you need to know about the Thai election

Tan Tam Mei