Thai Opposition Decision on Election Participation Risks Crisis

Thai Opposition Decision on Election Participation Risks Crisis

Thailand’s main opposition Democrat Party will decide today whether to boycott a snap election called for Feb. 2, a move that may deepen the nation’s political crisis after months of street protests. Senior party officials including former lawmakers, who will meet in Bangkok, have been urged to skip the polls by protesters calling for parliament to be replaced by an unelected council. The protesters are seeking to erase the political influence of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s family.The Democrats are closely aligned with the protest movement led by former party powerbroker Suthep Thaugsuban, who has vowed to not let the vote go ahead. While welcomed by protesters, a boycott would complicate an already-protracted political crisis that was recently reignited by protests and disruptions at key ministries, sending Thailand’s main stock index down 9.8 percent in the past two months, the world’s second-worst performer in that time after the Philippines.

Boycotting the election “discredits yourself as a political party,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor at Kyoto University’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. “What is the point of being a political party but not playing in the game of politics?”

The Democrats, with a support base largely in urban Bangkok and the Thai south, have lost every national election over the past two decades. They have failed to make inroads in the rural and more populous north and northeast, where Yingluck retains wide support.

Parliament Dissolved

Yingluck dissolved parliament on Dec. 9 and announced the election, a day after the Democrats resigned en masse to join the demonstrations, which at their peak drew more than 200,000 people.

The protesters say that Yingluck’s government is illegitimate, run from abroad by her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and faces a two year jail term for corruption if he returns. Protesters are calling for Thailand to suspend electoral democracy and appoint a council of “good people” in place of parliament.

In addition to mulling a boycott, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has been pushing for the polls to be delayed, saying that conditions are too volatile for an election.

The party faces a tough call on whether to run as it stands to be hurt “both ways” by its decision, Abhisit told reporters in Bangkok on Dec. 17 after a meeting where members voted overwhelmingly to re-elect him.

Election Commission

Election Commissioner Thirawat Thirarojwit met Yingluck yesterday in Bangkok, after which he told reporters the vote would proceed as planned Feb. 2, with applications opening for candidates on Dec. 23. The meeting did not discuss any legal avenues for postponing the election, Thirarojwit said.

Yingluck has said she doesn’t see how it would be possible to delay the vote under the constitution, which states an election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament.

Parties linked to Thaksin have won the past five national polls.

The Democrats previously boycotted an election in April 2006, when Thaksin was prime minister, on the grounds that the political system needed reform. That vote was later invalidated when a court found Thaksin’s party guilty of violating election laws. Before a fresh ballot could be held, Thaksin was ousted in the coup.

“The boycott became successful because of the political mood at the time,” Pavin said, noting that the situation is not the same this time. “The political mood is not with the Democrat Party. And one symbol of that is that the military refuses to play along.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Blake in Bangkok at cblake28@bloomberg.net