The ongoing distortion of election results and systematic subversion of the popular will in Thai politics raises questions of political legitimacy at home and abroad.
By all accounts, the combined victory of the opposition Move Forward Party and Pheu Thai in the May general election appears unlikely to lead to their formation of a government.
Despite a myriad of corruption allegations and scandals of many shapes and forms on top of a lacklustre performance, the Prayuth Chan-ocha government lasted a full four-year term. On party popularity among voters, the PPRP scored just one party-list seat out of 100, with the UTN nabbing 13, while the MFP and Pheu Thai garnered 39 and 29, respectively.Yet the political system from the coup era is gamed against popularly elected governments because the 250-member military-appointed Senate virtually has veto power over the premiership selection in the bicameral parliament.
The resulting government could thus turn out to be a grand coalition of old-style parties without the MFP and a reunion of sorts of parties and politicians who used to be under Pheu Thai and its predecessors, Thai Rak Thai and Palang Prachachon .
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