Political

[PattayaMale]

Today I went to see my financial advisor in Pattaya. In our conversation he mentioned that if the November elections go off on schedule, they will happen right after the military rotation. The significance in this is that those Taskin appointed (5 year term) will be out of power in November.

 

The thought is that if Taskin wants to still be an influence he will have until the end of October to do so.

 

Some think, the new military appointees, will strongly be supported by the Royals. This may lead to the kind of rule that took place in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, when the government was actually ruled by the military

 

Could this be one of the reasons we see so much about suppression of free speech and high increase in censorship in the media?

 

The 3G spectrum auction has caused concern because of the perceived rise in Xenophobia, where "foreigners" may not be a majority which may be in violation of the EU fair trade agreement.

 

Usually military controlled governments aren't very democratic. How many times has the military taken over power in Thailand??

[Guest GaySacGuy]

Today I went to see my financial advisor in Pattaya. In our conversation he mentioned that if the November elections go off on schedule, they will happen right after the military rotation. The significance in this is that those Taskin appointed (5 year term) will be out of power in November.

 

The thought is that if Taskin wants to still be an influence he will have until the end of October to do so.

 

 

They may be Taskin appointees leaving, but they are part of the same military that performed the bloodless removal of Thaskin from office...so I am not too sure of his "friends" left in the military.

[Bob]

...he mentioned that if the November elections go off on schedule,..

 

It's difficult for me to believe I missed that news. What November elections?

[Guest fountainhall]

The elections are scheduled late next year. Abhisit offered November 2010 elections to end the red shirt protest, but this was turned down by the red shirt leadership.

[Guest beachlover]

That's right. When are the elections scheduled for now? I suppose that would be an upcoming period when there may well be some unrest or disruption.

 

I wonder how the yellows will have any chance of winning when the red shirts have hordes of people at their disposal. Maybe the recent protests have made the red shirts more unpopular...

[Guest GaySacGuy]

Does anyone know for sure if and when national elections are scheduled for Thailand??

[Guest fountainhall]

Does anyone know for sure if and when national elections are scheduled for Thailand??

Under the constitution, it must be held not more than 4 years from the date of the previous general election. As this was on 23 December 2007, it will be held on a date decided by the government prior to 23 December 2011. No firm date has yet been set.

[Guest beachlover]

The red shirts had their chance to lock the government into November 2010 elections... What a f*ck up... considering how their protest ending. I wonder how Thaksin intended (with that attempt) or does attempt (now) to get back into power...

[Guest GaySacGuy]

The red shirts had their chance to lock the government into November 2010 elections... What a f*ck up... considering how their protest ending. I wonder how Thaksin intended (with that attempt) or does attempt (now) to get back into power...

 

He definitely wasn't going to get back into power if the Red Shirts accepted the government's offer and ended the demonstration peacefully....and that is the ONLY reason it was turned down...because Thaskin said to turn it down. Disclaimer..Personal Opinion

[Guest beachlover]

Yeah, a lot of people believe this is so.

 

I don't think either side can win. Both the yellow and red shirts are capable of unreasonable activities.

 

I wonder what Thai people, who are neither red or yellow aligned think when they see the damage done to their country, their jobs, their businesses and such... by the airport blockades and BKK burning protests.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

Yeah, a lot of people believe this is so.

 

I don't think either side can win. Both the yellow and red shirts are capable of unreasonable activities.

 

I wonder what Thai people, who are neither red or yellow aligned think when they see the damage done to their country, their jobs, their businesses and such... by the airport blockades and BKK burning protests.

The usual reaction from the Thais I know that don't support either side is anger. They are unhappy with the government and angry at all the protesters of any color. They just want their peaceful country back.

[Guest YardenUK]

Surely it will always be like this in countries like Thailand where the winner takes all? With power comes patronage in every single sphere. That's a huge prize and in the worlds of polarised politics it maybe makes it worth fighting for? Dunno, just thinking out loud again.

[Guest beachlover]

That sounds about right... I wonder how a strong red shirt supporter would feel about losing his/her job after Central World was burned down though.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

That sounds about right... I wonder how a strong red shirt supporter would feel about losing his/her job after Central World was burned down though.

 

There are very few Red Shirt supporters working in Bangkok. They where the ones who can't figure out why they can't sell their vegetables to Bangkok during the demonstrations.

[Guest fountainhall]

Surely it will always be like this in countries like Thailand where the winner takes all? With power comes patronage in every single sphere. That's a huge prize and in the worlds of polarised politics it maybe makes it worth fighting for?

Am I being dense? I cannot think of a country where the winner fails to take all - unless there is a deadlocked election. Britain seems to be doing pretty well under its coalition - so far. But the dishing out of 'pork' is often surely a greater factor in coalition governments as the majority party in the coalition does everything possible to stay in power.

 

I suppose you could say in the US the popular vote is not always reflected in the electoral college vote, and so the loser sometimes takes all. At least in Thailand there is some degree of proportional representation which first-past-the-post countries do not have.

[Guest beachlover]

There are very few Red Shirt supporters working in Bangkok. They where the ones who can't figure out why they can't sell their vegetables to Bangkok during the demonstrations.

 

What about the taxi drivers and such? And low income earners who work as waiters and shop attendants? Are there many red shirt supporters amongst them?

 

Maybe not, but I'm sure there would be at least one who is rubbing their head wondering what happened.

[Guest YardenUK]

Well certain positions of power in the west are no longer in the gift of whoever wins the elections (due to state bodies now being privatised or a more open and transparent system of appointments) - that is simply what I mean. Strikes me that Thailand is very similar to places like Bangladesh (another country with extremely polarised tribal politics), in that all top positions in all manner of state-run bodies at all levels of the country (national and local) are in the gift of the government.

 

Of course patronage still exists in the west (that's politics), but you no longer have the same rush of all the top jobs being handed out to friends of the winning party post-election.

 

And, more often than not, in these countries, it is the holders of these appointed positions that enable the post holder to benefit from any number of back handers. But as I said, I am no expert and was simply thinking out loud.....