2019 Thai general election: Know this before voting

[Artisi]

10 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

It has a complicated history & I'm not about to type out a 3-page history lesson. You can look at Wikipedia for that. Three points:

(1) At the federal level - and no doubt at State level as federal practice spread across all States & territories - for the first 80 years (roughly 1920-2000) preferential voting favoured right-of-centre parties because there were 2 or 3 such parties. That's why preferential voting was introduced in the first place in 1918 & the 1920s. [All that of course quite apart from the much greater mathematical 'fairness' of preferential over first-past-the-post voting.]

 

(2) And it was the right-of-centre parties that, from the 1970s to 1990s, refused all moves to simplify the Senate proportional preferential voting system. And there's not much doubt why that was so. Once the changes were made by an ALP government, the heavens did not fall (contrary to conservatives' expectations).

 

(3) Ironically at present the system favours the ALP (left-of-centre) because of the multiple small lefty parties & assorted ratbag 'independents'.

 

In politics, as in life, perfection is a counsel of despair.

Falls far short of "designed to prevent the poorest and least educated from casting a valid vote."

[robertson468]

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

No idea why farangs must read this we dont vote?

It's called World Current Affairs.

 

 

2 hours ago, Pravda said:

Where can I cast my ballot? 

 

[GarryP]

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

No idea why farangs must read this we dont vote?

But some of us do get the chance to vote. And of those who don't, many are married to Thais and in a position to pass on news and opinions to their wives/husbands. And, I know it beggars belief, actually able to influence who they vote for. 

[robblok]

20 minutes ago, GarryP said:

But some of us do get the chance to vote. And of those who don't, many are married to Thais and in a position to pass on news and opinions to their wives/husbands. And, I know it beggars belief, actually able to influence who they vote for. 

Yes we can do that, but like me the GF sees no good choices. Just the old stories repeating on and on again. I might mention Thanathorn a few times but he is also a wild card will he truly be anti corruption and put his money where his mouth is or form an alliance with PTP (or someone else) and accept all the corruption that comes with it. (just wondering how a guy who is trying to be not corrupt and transparant can be so if he works with those who are. I wonder if he would blow up an alliance if it became too bad)

 

 

[mfd101]

43 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Falls far short of "designed to prevent the poorest and least educated from casting a valid vote."

I think it had that effect fairly consistently over its first 80 years and it would be astonishing if the various generations of politicians had been unaware of that.

 

Indeed, how could they be? It was often discussed in the Oz media, particularly from the 1970s on as Oz society changed, becoming more open, 'liberal' (in the proper senses of the term), practically egalitarian as opposed to merely theoretically, & multicultural.

[GarryP]

21 minutes ago, robblok said:

Yes we can do that, but like me the GF sees no good choices. Just the old stories repeating on and on again. I might mention Thanathorn a few times but he is also a wild card will he truly be anti corruption and put his money where his mouth is or form an alliance with PTP (or someone else) and accept all the corruption that comes with it. (just wondering how a guy who is trying to be not corrupt and transparant can be so if he works with those who are. I wonder if he would blow up an alliance if it became too bad)

 

 

I would vote Future Forward if I could, but I will have to wait for the next elections. I agree with most of the party's policies. Knowing that it could not lead the country on its own but would have to be part of a coalition (there is no un-corrupt party to work with), so it is more of a matter of choosing to work with the best of the worst. If it joins with any party that supports military involvement in politics and the current constitution, it would be shooting itself in its foot. It would lose most of its support in the long run because that is what its supporters are voting for. So you have the other side of the divide, the Democrats (who I believe will be badly battered in this coming election losing support to FF) and the PTP alliance. I could not trust the Democrats they move in the direction that benefits them, they say one thing today but do the opposite tomorrow.  As corrupt as PTP is (the reason they are felt to be more corrupt than the Dems is that the Dems have had so little time at the trough and I would not put it past them to be just as bad), this party gave voice to the people and has done a lot of good. So if FF were to join with PTP, I could accept that more than I could accept them joining with the Dems.     

[robblok]

11 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I would vote Future Forward if I could, but I will have to wait for the next elections. I agree with most of the party's policies. Knowing that it could not lead the country on its own but would have to be part of a coalition (there is no un-corrupt party to work with), so it is more of a matter of choosing to work with the best of the worst. If it joins with any party that supports military involvement in politics and the current constitution, it would be shooting itself in its foot. It would lose most of its support in the long run because that is what its supporters are voting for. So you have the other side of the divide, the Democrats (who I believe will be badly battered in this coming election losing support to FF) and the PTP alliance. I could not trust the Democrats they move in the direction that benefits them, they say one thing today but do the opposite tomorrow.  As corrupt as PTP is (the reason they are felt to be more corrupt than the Dems is that the Dems have had so little time at the trough and I would not put it past them to be just as bad), this party gave voice to the people and has done a lot of good. So if FF were to join with PTP, I could accept that more than I could accept them joining with the Dems.     

To be honest I really don't think there is much difference between how corrupt parties are Dems / PTP and others. They will do whatever they can get away with. 

 

Yes supporting the junta would be the worst thing they could do and would cost them loads of votes. But would it be so much better to join a corrupt party in an coalition and then themselves look bad too ? Anyway it is still the best party IMHO and if I could vote id vote for them.

 

I would hope that he would be strong enough to risk a break in the coalition if there is a scandal and not close ranks just to stay in power. However that is of course a big ask of him to do.

 

Anyway interesting times ahead, i have NO idea what the results will be from the next election.

[brain150]

[Eric Loh]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

 

 

The election will be held under a junta government that retained special powers under Article 44 of the post-coup interim charter and is also guaranteed under the current Constitution. Hence, NCPO chief Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha is eligible to issue any order under this power, including nullifying or cancelling the election in the event of an unexpected incidence. 

How will the election be free and fair when you have the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all free Thais. If that not enough, you have the army chief warning of imminent coup. Laws being fixed to favour the junta for years to come and crony agencies working on the behest of the junta to handicap political parties. Are these not reasons enough to denounce the junta but some here still try to spin indefensible excuses and bring in the tired regular used reason that political parties are also corrupt. Don’t we know that. The junta illegimate power and using their power to influence the election must be denounced by all but not some mindless junta fans. 

[dcnx]

Know this: it’s rigged. The junta wins no matter what.

[Artisi]

It would seem that the majority don't really care, exactly the same in UK, AUS, USA, I always voted Tory, Labor, liberal, Democrats conservatives and so on, just like my parents did etc.  Guess the only difference in Thailand is many are not happy with the military, this ensures people will vote for the lesser of the evils and vote again as they have always done for what they believe is the safest option - not the best. 

[GarryP]

With the news coming out about General Apirat's response to PTP's policy of reducing the defence budget by 10 percent, he is not making many friends.  He referred to an old song written by the army and used during the 1976 uprising titled "The scum of the land". Back then the scum was the students and others against military rule, but this time he is referring to PTP.  

 

PTP also seems to be moving in the same direction as Future Forward in terms of reducing the size of the army and number of generals. So perhaps they are looking at joining hands with FF. 

 

Fun, fun, fun.  

[robblok]

3 minutes ago, GarryP said:

With the news coming out about General Apirat's response to PTP's policy of reducing the defence budget by 10 percent, he is not making many friends.  He referred to an old song written by the army and used during the 1976 uprising titled "The scum of the land". Back then the scum was the students and others against military rule, but this time he is referring to PTP.  

 

PTP also seems to be moving in the same direction as Future Forward in terms of reducing the size of the army and number of generals. So perhaps they are looking at joining hands with FF. 

 

Fun, fun, fun.  

I thought it was a forgone conclusion that the FF would join the PTP ?

 

Anyway it would be great if they could cut army spending and remove the draft. That would really piss the generals off. Of course the money could be used much better for other stuff. They could put it in the health program for instance that is really under funded. 

 

It was nice that it was setup but without proper funding it will crumble. 

[GarryP]

2 minutes ago, robblok said:

I thought it was a forgone conclusion that the FF would join the PTP ?

 

Anyway it would be great if they could cut army spending and remove the draft. That would really piss the generals off. Of course the money could be used much better for other stuff. They could put it in the health program for instance that is really under funded. 

 

It was nice that it was setup but without proper funding it will crumble. 

I don't think it was a forgone conclusion, as they are quite far apart on some issues. But sometimes you have to overlook those differences to make a difference. 

[Donutz]

Anakot Mai would be a good choice in my opinion. The Commoner party also sounds fair enough. Even though they would be forced to work with the best if the worst to form a coalition. These elections are a pile of **** though,  with the army having force fed an awefull constitution and a Senat that is all green... These elections are a joke. They really should scrap the constitution and the Senat after a pro democracy coalition is formed. Thailand has a history of scrapping constitutions and giving the perpetrators amnesty,  all in name if the country so it would be perfectly fine to burn this thing to the ground and really start over like they should have fine after 1932.

[kannot]

"General"  election yeah thats  spot  on!

[Snow Leopard]

I will be voting LEAVE.