This could have been a new era for Thai democracy.
The public resoundingly ended a near-decade of military rule last year, handing an electoral mandate to a progressive party and a forceful prime minister candidate who represented none of the old power makers.
Just 15 months later, things are entirely different, and the voters had nothing to do with it. The winning party has been banned, and its candidate barred from holding office. The consensus choice who emerged then to form a government as prime minister was abruptly ousted by a top court this week.
On Friday morning, Parliament dealt the next card up, choosing Paetongtarn Shinawatra — the 37-year-old heir to a powerful and polarizing Thai political dynasty — to be the country’s new prime minister.
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For many Thais, the decisions made in the past week were the latest evidence that the country is controlled by a military and royalist establishment that is bent on denying the people’s will, using the courts and the army’s presence to winnow the field.
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Daughter of Thailand’s Ex-Prime Minister to Be Next Leader Paetongtarn Shinawatra was chosen by lawmakers on Friday to be the country’s next leader, two days after a court ousted the previous prime minister.
It’s about time to do something for the country and for the party as well. And I just, I hope that I can do my best to, you know, make the country go forward.
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