Legislative elections in Thailand: the king a taboo subject?

Young Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat (42) is credited with a breakthrough in the polls during the campaign, in Bangkok on May 12, 2023. AFP - JACK TAYLOR

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3 min

In Thailand, the opposition is leading the polls for the legislative elections scheduled for Sunday, May 14, for the first time since the large pro-democracy demonstrations, which had shaken the country in 2020, with this objective: to reform the monarchy and the status of quasi-deity of King Maha Vajiralongkorn. What role does this demand play in the electoral campaign?

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The king is no longer quite a taboo subject in Thailand since thousands of young people took to the streets three years ago. They called for a reform of Article 112 of the Penal Code, which punishes anyone who defames, insults or threatens the royal family with three to 15 years' imprisonment.

Since then, more than 200 activists have been charged with lèse-majesté... Even a 15-year-old girl was arrested last March for criticizing the monarch. But the determination with which Prime Minister Prayut Chan-Ocha has stifled the movement in the streets has not deterred those calling for an overhaul of the monarchy.

The one who embodies this battle is called Pita Limjaroenrat. The 42-year-old Harvard graduate has become the face of a Thailand that is turning its back on a system deemed favorable to the military and the monarchy. His "Move Forward" party could be a hit with young people and threaten the "landslide victory" sought by the other opposition party, the Pheu Thai of the Shinawatra clan.

► READ ALSO: In Thailand, legislative elections in the shadow of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra

Paetongtarn Shinawatra favourite in polls

Pheu Thai Party Prime Minister candidates Paetongtarn Shinawatra (c) and Srettha Thavisin (l) make a gesture at the party's final campaign rally in Bangkok on May 12, 2023, ahead of Thailand's May 14 general election. AFP - MANAN VATSYAYANA

The favorite in the polls for the post of prime minister is a political novice: Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the heiress of the country's most famous political dynasty.

In the Shinawatra family, there is the patriarch and billionaire Thaksin, his sister Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, both swept away by coups in 2006 and 2014 and now living in exile in Dubai. Finally, there is Paetongtarn, Thaksin's youngest daughter, who embodies the family legacy. This surname has polarized Thai political life for more than two decades.

Heroes of the countryside, demons of the urban elites, the Shinawatra are adored by the working classes, especially in the rural north who remember Thaksin's many reforms to lift them out of poverty.

For Bangkok's traditional elite and business camp, Thaksin, like his sister Yingluck, are corrupt populists, who pose a threat to the monarchy.

Despite the efforts of the junta and conservative circles to permanently prevent the Shinawatra return to power, polls show the Pheu Thai party winning. If Paetongtarn succeeds and becomes prime minister, his 73-year-old father Thaksin could return to the country after 17 years in exile.

► Read also: Legislative elections in Thailand: pollution is invited into the debate

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• Thailand
• Yingluck Shinawatra