Thailand’s 2019 Vote: The General’s Election

Thailand’s March 2019 ballot was the first for the country since 2011, and for many it signaled the potential end of the military junta’s five-year rule. But was it truly a return to democracy? This essay argues that the election was far from a democratization event. Instead, it was a highly orchestrated exercise to ensure authoritarian longevity. The junta employed techniques of institutional engineering as well as managing the election’s outcomes in an effort to extend the premiership of Prayuth Chan-ocha despite increasing pressure for a return to civilian rule. The results of the election suggest that Thai society continues to exhibit deep divisions between those who support and those who oppose military interventions in politics. I further contend that the election should be seen as part of the continuing struggle by conservative forces in society to maintain their dominance in politics despite demands from other segments of the population for equal representation, a contest which is far from over.

泰國2019年投票: 大選

關鍵詞： 泰國，泰國政黨體系，選舉，軍政府，民主，憲法工程。

2019年3月的選舉是泰國自2011年以來進行的第一次選舉，對很多人來説它標志了五年來軍政府統治的潛在的終結信號。 但這是否真正是民主的回歸？ 本文認爲此次選舉遠非一次民主化事件。 相反，它是一次縝密策劃的行動，以確保威權統治長治久安。儘管要求回歸文職政府的壓力日漸增長，軍政府還是采取了制度性的工程手段，并且對選舉結果進行了操縱，力圖延長巴育·占奥差（Prayuth Chan-ocha）的任期。選舉結果表明， 泰國社會仍然繼續顯示出對軍事干預政治持支持與反對態度的人群之間的深刻分歧。 我進一步提出，此次選舉應該被視爲，儘管民衆中其他群體要求平等代表的呼聲很高，社會保守勢力仍為維護其政治主宰地位而繼續掙扎，因此對抗還遠未結束。

Translated from English by Li Guo