Banner: Jaran Ditapichai จรัล ดิษฐาอภิชัย, Prachatai, Flickr

Thailand 2025: An overview of political landscape & trends

  1. Continuity of Status Quo under the Pheu Thai Government: The government of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, with the Pheu Thai Party as the head of government, succeeding the government of Srettha Thavisin, has been in power for five months. It is not only still a coalition government of loyal conservatives, but most of the ministers are the same. The policies are also the same, focusing on the economy, attempting to implement populist policies, giving 10,000 baht to each person to please the people, and having no progressive political policies, continuing to delay the drafting of a new constitution. It has not yet granted amnesty to political prisoners and has obstructed the enactment of military reform laws. In particular, it has not even touched on or mentioned the amendment of Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits defamation, insult, or threats against the monarchy (Lèse Majesté). The arrest and imprisonment of youth, students, and members of the public continue. 43 people have been sentenced to prison, including lawyer Anon Nampa, who has been sentenced to 18 years and 10 months in prison. However, despite the urgent and long-term economic problems, the government has not been able to alleviate them. The Thai economy will continue to decline.
  2. Opposition to the People’s Party: The King, the coalition government, the elite, the Constitutional Court, the Court of Justice, the Election Commission, as well as the military, the Senate, big capitalists, etc., are forming an alliance to oppose the People’s Party democratic reforms in every way, especially in parliamentary proposals, and local elections, There is rumor that there is a plan in place to disqualify members of the House of Representatives belonging to the People’s Party, who campaign for the reform of Lese Majeste law even to the point of dissolving the People’s Party.
  3. Weakened Democratic Movement: The movement for democracy outside of parliament is still weak because most of the leaders of the student and people’s movement have been arrested and imprisoned. Some have fled the country to seek political asylum in Europe, Canada, and the United States, creating a leadership vacuum in the country. At the same time, the government continues to arrest critics of the King and those who propose reforms to the monarchy, hence limiting freedom of expression to the point of violating human rights. Fighting outside of parliament is even more difficult. The people who once united against the military government now split into 2 camps, one supporting the current Pheu Thai government and the other People’s party. This makes it more difficult for the people movement to unite and force the policy. So many people place their hopes in parliament.
  4. Lack of Interest in International Affairs: The government and most Thai people are not interested in international politics, or affairs, such as the Russian invading Ukraine war or the Israel destroying Palestinian. There are some concerns about the aggressive policies of US President Donald Trump on trade conflict with the People’s Republic of China. The Thai government continues to pursue a policy of indifference towards Myanmar, a neighboring country with a border spanning more than 2,000 kilometers. As long as the civil war does not end and Myanmar is not a democracy, Thailand and ASEAN will not be stable.
  5. Appeal to the European Union: We call on the European Union to pay attention to the political situation in Thailand and, more importantly, the role of the Thai monarchy. As long as King Vajiralongkorn still controls politics, Thailand will never be a democracy. This will not be beneficial and will not benefit most countries in the European Union.

Thailand Data

According to the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights’ documentation, from the “Free Youth” assembly on 18 July 2020 until 31 December 2024, at least 1,960 individuals have been charged for participating in public assemblies or expressing their political opinions in at least 1,311 cases.

Compared to November, there was one additional case recorded, stemming from the #Mob18July2021 public assembly. This was not a new charge, but rather a result of the police splitting the original case into two separate cases when submitting the investigation report to the public prosecutor.  As a result, the two cases fall under two separate court jurisdictions, and the case count was updated accordingly.

Altogether, there have been at least 4,022 charges brought against individuals, although some of them face multiple charges across different cases.

Prosecution statistics in key offences;

  1. Section 112 (lèse-majesté) of the Criminal Code, at least 276 individuals in 308 cases (Of this, at least 162 cases have stemmed from reports to the police made by members of the public.)
  2. Section 116 (sedition) of the Criminal Code, at least 154 individuals in 53 cases
  3. Violation of the Emergency Decree, at least 1,466 individuals in 674 cases
  4. Violation of the Public Assembly Act, at least 182 individuals in 100 cases
  5. Violation of the Computer Crimes Act, at least 208 individuals in 230 cases
  6. Contempt of court, at least 43 individuals in 25 cases, and insult of the court, at least 37 individuals in 11 cases

Of 1,311 cases, 661 cases have reached their final verdicts (although some cases remain outstanding, since certain defendants decided to appeal their verdicts, while others have not).

Jaran Ditapichai, a Thai political scientist, educator, writer, political activist and advocate of human rights.

Jaran Ditapichai
20 February 2025
Profile: https://prachataienglish.com/node/5123

Posted by FORSEA

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