July 3rd

This is a very exciting time to be in Thailand, due to the upcoming political elections. There are political party signs everywhere in the city. Although the signs are in Thai, I have gathered enough information about how the election process works to discern important information from the campaign posters. The election commission randomly drew numbers for each of the 38 political parties, representing the order the party will be listed on the ballot.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, the political tension between the so-called Red Shirts and Yellow shirts has impacted the current election process a great deal. A few years ago, to honor the king, some people started wearing yellow, the king’s color, on Mondays. As most things in life do, it began from a place of respect, but was taken on as a cause of a group of people who are calling for the return of the monarch and dissolution of the democratic election process, due to a belief the process is overly corrupt. Now, a modern Thai would not feel comfortable wearing yellow, as it might lead people to believe they are an extremist “yellow shirter.” In response to the yellow shirt movement, a “red shirt” movement was organized, with an emphasis on dissolving the monarchy and becoming a purely democratic nation. Again, an moderate Thai would not feel comfortable wearing red at this point.

Thailand’s current political system is a Constitutional Monarchy. The responsibilities of the King and other Royal Family members are not political, but focus on social and cultural aspects of Thai life. This includes social welfare, education, agricultural, and cultural programs and responsibilities. The political realm is handled by parliament, led by a Prime Minister. During the election, Thais will vote for the party of their choice and representatives will be selected in a proportional basis. This means if a party earns 50% of the votes, they will receive 50% of the representation in parliament; if a party receives 5% of the vote, they will receive 5% of the representation. Voting in Thailand is compulsorily, failure to vote comes with consequences. For example, if you don’t vote, you cannot sign political petitions. The two largest parties are represented by #1, which is the Pheua Thai Party, meaning “for the people” and #10, the Democratic Party which currently has parliamentary power.

The Pheua Thai Party is the opposition party, working to take power away from the current leadership. This party has connections to the former Prime Minister, who fled the country during the 2006 coup (Thailand has been through 18 Constitutions as results of the of 24 coups that have occurred since 1932). There has been documented evidence to support the idea that this party is connected to the red shirt movement, in funding and philosophy.

The Democratic Party is also predicted to bring in a large number of votes. This is the current party of power in Thailand, which has an official stance to maintain the current division of power between parliament and the monarch. Although there are some people who try to lump members of this party with the yellow shirt movement, there is no significant evidence and many people believe the propaganda is coming from the yellow shirt movement to dissuade undecided voters from voting for the party in the upcoming elections.

The yellow shirts are also mounting a “Vote No” campaign, which means an individual would basically activity vote for none of the candidates, indicating your desire to restore power to the monarch. This act of protest would, in some ways, guarantee more active votes be recorded for the Pheua Thai Party. This reminds me of the 2000 election in the United States, when a third party candidates votes potentially changed the course of the election.

Political signs are quite large, standing taller than an average person and about a meter wide. We were told each sign costs about 190-200 baht (US$6-7). Some are very insulting to each other. For example, signs characterizing “other” parties as monkeys (sneaky), monitors (bad luck), or water buffalo (stupid) are common. It is also common to find vandalized signs.

When talking to Thais, it is clear that most people are a little nervous about the election, and what will happen when the results are announced. As mentioned, coups in Thailand have been common during the last 75 years, and it seems they definitely interrupt daily life when it happens. Political violence since the 2006 has also resulted in many deaths since the last coup, when large protests have turned violent. For these reasons, tension is apparent when talking to Thais about the election. It will be incredibly interesting to see how the election unfolds, and I promise to provide more updates about this in the next few weeks.