Elections in Thailand: open voting, opposition ahead
While all eyes are on the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, Thailand also went to the polls today.
Opposition leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party, which emerged as the favorite in pre-election polls, took the lead after the votes were counted.
Britain’s Reuters news agency announced that 6.45 percent of the vote was counted and the Pheu Thai Party was ahead by a wide margin.
As the vote counting process continues, the final result is expected to be announced around 10:00 p.m. local time.
After Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra became the leader of the Pheu Thai Party.
WHY ARE THAILAND ELECTIONS IMPORTANT?
Under the leadership of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister at the time, who was ousted in the military coup in Thailand in 2006, his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra became the leader of the Pheu Thai Party, which was in power from 2001 to 2006.
The military coup, which had a great reaction in international public opinion, had abolished the constitutional order of 15 years.
The vote, which is the first election to be held in 2020 after pro-democracy protests with a high density of youth, also has the distinction of being the second election to be held after the elected government’s military coup in 2014.
THE OPPOSITION NEEDS TO WIN BY A SERIOUS DIFFERENCE
Since 50 million Thai citizens are expected to vote today, voters will be able to vote via two ballot papers. In Thailand, which goes to the polls to choose local government representatives and parliamentary candidates, the opposition needs to win by a wide margin to win and make Shinawatra prime minister.
In Thailand, the prime minister is appointed by the parliament. In addition to the 500-seat parliament, the 250-seat Senate appointed by the Thai military has great influence. Although Pheu Thai declared victory in the 2019 election and won 136 seats, Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of the junta-led Paland Pracharath Party, was appointed prime minister. Chan-ocha got the result he wanted with 444 votes to 500.