Electoral integrity and the repercussions of institutional manipulations: The 2019 general election in Thailand

Abstract

Thailand’s 2019 election was seen from the beginning to be a ritual to transform a military junta into an elected government. This qualitative article draws on the critical analysis of theories in authoritarianism and electoral integrity to shed light on the concept of competitive authoritarianism. The article, utilizing empirical data and historical narratives, illustrates Thailand’s legal and political environment governing this election. The electoral results and post-election political party landscape reveal unintended consequences in manipulating political institutions. Although the newly introduced electoral system and institutional manipulations allowed the military co-opted Palang Pracharat party to select the prime minister even without controlling a majority in the House of Representatives, as projected, the establishment was inadvertently left with two robust opposition parties, namely the old Pheu Thai and the new-born Future Forward parties. The former represents the strongest political machine in Thailand, which has won five consecutive elections, while the latter symbolizes a new divide in Thai politics, armed with the power of social media, and poses a bigger threat to the military establishment. Remarkably, the electoral result not only pointed to a continued polarization, dominated by the cleavages of ultraconservative versus progressive and an urban-rural, rich-poor cleavage, but also a new division between older and younger generations. This article maintains that although Thailand’s civil-military government might be deposed in the future due to several challenges facing them, the undemocratic political structure of military electoral co-optation polity remains ingrained on account of the way that the 2017 Constitution was crafted.