Political Cheat Sheet: Prof. Ed Sums Up Ten Years of Thai Politics [S7.E38]

In our semi-annual update on Thai politics, Ed does his best to
explain the current situation and how Thailand arrived here over
the last ten years. He begins with the framework that defined
Thai politics for almost 15 years: one party led by the
Shinawatra clan that was populist and relied on the support of
Thai farmers in the Northeast and the conservative Democratic
Party and military establishment that represented the middle
class and above relied on support from Bangkok. While the
populist party dominated at the ballot box, it led first to a
coup in 2006 against the patriarch Thaksin, and then to a coup in
2014 against his sister Yingluck. 


The result was a military government for five years until the
elections of 2019. Largely due to a very biased Constitution, the
military squeaked out a virtual tie with a new version of the
populist party, but close behind was a new player on the scene:
the truly progressive Future Forward Party, which was primarily
supported by younger Bangkokers. However, the conservative
Constitutional Court would go on to ban the party and its
leaders. The military was able to build a coalition to choose one
of the coup leaders as the Prime Minister.


Four years later in May of 2023, now with a less-rigged
Constitution, the military and Democratic parties would get wiped
out and shockingly, the new iteration of the progressive party
would win outright, seemingly altering Thai politics forever. As
has become the norm in Thai politics, the drama continues to
unfold. Listen in for the rest of the story. 


Don't forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the
show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on
Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our
website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info
than you need to know.