The parliament will reopen debate on constitutional amendments on 22-24 June, a major event that will affect the Kingdom’s political structure. After the issue was delayed in 2020 and withdrawn in 2021, political parties and civil society have another chance to address what they see as hindrances to democratization and political advantage.

The calculation of party-list MPs by Election Commission favours pro-junta parties as it slices down the opposition. Here’s how it works step-by-step. 

While the confronting political ideologies in western countries are the left and the right, their counterparts in Thai politics are moral politics and the politics of economic inequality. These ideologies will be represented through political parties in the upcoming election. In the 2018 elections, policies will not and cannot be a decisive factor since politicians have to conform to the NCPO’s National Strategic Plan which provides a policy framework that future governments have to follow for the next 20 years.

On May 22, 2014 the Thai military, led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, staged a coup d’état to end several months of political and civil chaos in Thailand. At its very basic level, the chaos was caused by an on-going conflict between the so-called ‘red-shirts’, followers of the government of Yingluck Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party and comprising the rural voters forming a majority of the electorate, and the ‘yellow-shirts’, an alliance between the military, the Thai elite, and the middle-class Democrat party of Abhisit Vejjajiva with a strong following in Bangkok.

On 25 August 2017, the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on the historic case of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who stands accused of causing billions of baht in losses through her administration’s controversial rice-pledging scheme (RPS). Prachatai has gathered 10 important facts about the historic case, which will set a standard for future public policy and almost certainly deepen political divisions regardless of the outcome.