Campaigning for Sunday’s poll marred by crackdown on anti-junta parties and push to retain military leader as PM
When the military seized power in Thailand in the 2014 coup, after months of political scandal and turmoil on the streets, it promised only a temporary measure designed to restore “love and peace”. But as easily as the generals took power, they found it much harder to let it go, despite endless promises of elections.
Sunday will mark the first national election in eight years, but it will happen under a junta cloud. Far from handing the country back to a civilian-led, democratic government, the military rulers, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), are instead seeking to hold on to their power base through proxy political parties who want the military leader, Prayut Chan-ocha, to stay as prime minister.
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