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Voting Out Democracy
FRONTLINE
|September 16, 2016
The military junta in Thailand gets yet another Constitution passed through a “referendum” which effectively prevents any single party from gaining a majority in Parliament. BY JOHN CHERIAN
THE THAI ARMY JUNTA WHICH CALLS ITSELF the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and which seized power from a democratically elected government on May 2014 now seems intent on permanently converting electoral politics into a farce. On August 7, Thais were told to vote in a referendum that in effect sought to curtail their democratic rights. It was on a new Constitution drafted at the behest of the Bangkok elite who are in cahoots with the clique of generals who staged the 2014 coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The army-run government did not allow any meaningful debate to take place on the draft Constitution. The media were silenced and many opposition members and others who were against the undemocratic Constitution were arrested. Many critics were charged with sedition. Ahead of the referendum, all public discussions on the proposed constitutional changes were banned. A TV station supporting Yingluck Shinawatra’s party was taken off the air for a month prior to the referendum campaign. Many former Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament were arrested for criticising the army-drafted Constitution.
This story is from the September 16, 2016 edition of FRONTLINE.
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