A resounding vote for democracy

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...A resounding vote for democracy..."

 

Er... Ahem... Oh... Not quite.

 

"...The Election Commission (EC) estimated voter turnout at about 65.9 per cent..." 

 

In 2011, it was about 75%.

 

A "Resounding Vote for Democracy" would have seen that number go up, not down by 10%.

 

Hey Nation! There is this groovy concept called math...

 

 

Maths, only ever applied to achieve advantage. 

[soalbundy]

We all have our beliefs. Newspapers especially have to be careful what they say in times of Thai democracy.

[soalbundy]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

How has democracy worked for the likes of Australia and the UK .... 

they are both an absolute mess ...

Australia has had something like 6 PM's in the last 5 years & is on the verge of a recession.

oh wait  !!  that's right ,  it's called democracy ... lol  !!!!!!!!!! 

 

Yes but it works in the long run. Better would be an intelligent, benevolent dictatorship but who is going to keep him benevolent.

[Eric Loh]

So the party that won the most House seats will not be forming the next government. This is not democracy. 

[wgdanson]

1 hour ago, madmitch said:

You beat me to it. 65% turnout and a distinctly undemocratic feel to the whole election.

 

And there we have it; what The Nation deems news!

65% turnout means that 35% couldn't be arsed, or were too drunk to get to the polling station.

[cerox]

For those who are complaining please explain what is so bad for expats now.

The government stays the same, if I understand it correctly. It has been like that for 5 years already.

I do not care if the polls are rigged or genuine. None of my business.

 

In my view all stays the same.

The long-term risks for expats in terms of visa, air pollution and THB appreciation stay, which is why many consider other countries or make their exit-strategy. But it is nothing new.

[madmen]

2 hours ago, Spidey said:

A resounding vote for flushing democracy down the toilet.

 

I wake up this morning and find myself still living in a banana republic run by a tinpot dictator.

 

My wife is gutted and ashamed of her country. She doesn't know of one person that voted for El Presidente and finds it beyond belief that anyone voted for him. No wonder the "government" went to such lengths to keep independent observers away from the election. Pure sham. David Copperfield would have been proud of the show.

I wouldn't worry about it. Your wife is suffering a little loss of face and her friends obviously dont represent the majority . Its called democracy and she was simply on the losing side. ????

[Artisi]

28 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

So the party that won the most House seats will not be forming the next government. This is not democracy. 

Were you expecting a complete shift it Thainess just because there was a "democratic" election. 

[cliveshep]

Actually as I read it nothing is settled yet. Not in the Nation, but in Bangkok Post it is clear that in 123 order it is Pheu Thai, Palang Pracharath and Future Forward. for the top 3 but do not discount the rest.

 

So if they can manage to stop acting like schoolboys it is quite possible for a coalition Government to be formed and completely oust the army-loving vote-riggers.

 

The next few days will show if there is a level of maturity leading to victory among anti-junta parties or selfish stupidity giving the old PM another 5 years to make songs, Friday broadcasts and continue to be self-serving.

[Artisi]

1 minute ago, madmen said:

I wouldn't worry about it. Your wife is suffering a little loss of face and her friends obviously dont represent the majority . Its called democracy and she was simply on the losing side. ????

There is always the "I didn't vote for xxxxx" effect, when in actual fact they did but won't admit to it, hapens everywhere - not just in LOS. 

[Jai Dee]

A flame post and reply have been removed.

[Artisi]

22 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

65% turnout means that 35% couldn't be arsed, or were too drunk to get to the polling station.

Couldn't be drunk, no booze available and if the Thais are anything like a lot of TV posters they wouldn't be able to organise the forward purchase ????

[Mavideol]

2 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

It’s rather incredulous that the junta managed to win, thus saving the embarrassment of having to perform another coup. 

incredulous the junta MANAGED to win...honestly did any of you ever thought they would lose, not even on my wildest dreams, all was staged, the main reason to keep independent observers out of their way, because they had nothing to hide 555

[mokwit]

37 minutes ago, cerox said:

The government stays the same, if I understand it correctly. It has been like that for 5 years already.

Now that they have a mandate from the people having been "democratically" elected they will feel they can do anything they want. If they plan on taking the social structure back a few decades I don't think they will be keen on having us around.

[Metapod]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Yes but it works in the long run. Better would be an intelligent, benevolent dictatorship but who is going to keep him benevolent.

Yep. The most effective form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. The issue is that people live 80 years or so, and countries last a lot longer than that, so it is impossible to have this as a solution long-term. The best system suddenly becomes the worst system when you get a guy like Joffrey on the throne. Therefore, the best form of government (to date) is a constitutional republic. Protect the values of the culture and rights of the people, while giving representation to each area of the country. Democracy is a garbage system as it is 2 wolf and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. 

[newatthis]

Now that they have been democratically elected, and now that this is a new era, are they exempt from the immunity that they gave themselves in respect to any future actions.

[DogsBarkingAllDay]

The votes are recounting right?

Let's wait for the final result. Personally, I don't think they tampering the ballots.

I know many PTP / "Pro-democracy" supporters are upset with the outcome.

But they should realise there is a significant amount of voters who are also pro-Prayut due to his ideology, the current peaceful life people enjoying with,  the PPRP's policies and not to mention the old politicians defected to PPRP. Many of these politicians have strong influencing power. And many of these are ex-PTP. 

So PTP's votes are splitting over to PPRP due to this factor as well. 

If people really suspect vote fraud. I think Democrat party will be the first to complain.

Instead Mr Ahbisit graciously stepped down from his position swiftly.

 

[Nomad001]

Yeah right..When Junta only needs a minimum of 126 seat vs their party rivals who need about 350 seats that is not a democracy, that's a dictatorship!!!

[Thailand]

But I guess section 44 is out of the window and there is at least an opposition in parliament, ideal situation for another coup.

Would be my 4th, more regular than the Olympics.

 

Luxury home for sale in the smog belt of the world, any takers! ????

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Spidey said:

A resounding vote for flushing democracy down the toilet.

 

I wake up this morning and find myself still living in a banana republic run by a tinpot dictator.

 

My wife is gutted and ashamed of her country. She doesn't know of one person that voted for El Presidente and finds it beyond belief that anyone voted for him. No wonder the "government" went to such lengths to keep independent observers away from the election. Pure sham. David Copperfield would have been proud of the show.

Ditto..

[SantiSuk]

A resounding vote for democracy?

 

All you need to know if in doubt is that the day after the election any time the BBC International News turns from the factual content of its reporting to analysis and comment the Thai administration cuts the programming dead!

[Psimbo]

'A resounding vote for democracy'- did I miss an election somewhere else yesterday? It clearly wasn't here.

[mokwit]

Thai economy will collapse when retirees withhold their golf club dues - they have been threatening this for a while now.

[DrTuner]

2 hours ago, Metapod said:

Democracy is a garbage system as it is 2 wolf and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. 

Maybe somebody should try direct democracy before giving up on it, so far not done anywhere. Vote on everything, online, 24/7. The only government needed is the executive office. The current representational systems are crap. 

[robblok]

2 hours ago, DogsBarkingAllDay said:

The votes are recounting right?

Let's wait for the final result. Personally, I don't think they tampering the ballots.

I know many PTP / "Pro-democracy" supporters are upset with the outcome.

But they should realise there is a significant amount of voters who are also pro-Prayut due to his ideology, the current peaceful life people enjoying with,  the PPRP's policies and not to mention the old politicians defected to PPRP. Many of these politicians have strong influencing power. And many of these are ex-PTP. 

So PTP's votes are splitting over to PPRP due to this factor as well. 

If people really suspect vote fraud. I think Democrat party will be the first to complain.

Instead Mr Ahbisit graciously stepped down from his position swiftly.

 

Good analysis the losers will be complaining about fraud for sure if it is there. I never believed in wide spread fraud and manipulation. Incidents will happen but large scale no way.

 

Yes let us not forget the huge number of PTP MP's that switched side and took with them their voters. Everyone though that these guys would lose the votes. That did not happen shows again that its not the party but the MP's that control the voting.

 

Still, i don't like that the junta did so well nor did I expect it. But it makes quite a few things clear for me.

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Maybe somebody should try direct democracy before giving up on it, so far not done anywhere. Vote on everything, online, 24/7. The only government needed is the executive office. The current representational systems are crap. 

That also does not work, because people would always vote against tax increases would vote for tax cuts leaving the state without any money. 

[emptypockets]

5 hours ago, Spidey said:

A resounding vote for flushing democracy down the toilet.

 

I wake up this morning and find myself still living in a banana republic run by a tinpot dictator.

 

My wife is gutted and ashamed of her country. She doesn't know of one person that voted for El Presidente and finds it beyond belief that anyone voted for him. No wonder the "government" went to such lengths to keep independent observers away from the election. Pure sham. David Copperfield would have been proud of the show.

Including the wife's siblings, in-laws and mother, out of the 12, 10 voted for Prayut, 2 voted red. These people are in Rayong,  Bangkok and Isaan. Very well educated people except the two who voted red who are the archetypal red rural farmers.  The live in Rayong. 

[ramrod711]

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...A resounding vote for democracy..."

 

Er... Ahem... Oh... Not quite.

 

"...The Election Commission (EC) estimated voter turnout at about 65.9 per cent..." 

 

In 2011, it was about 75%.

 

A "Resounding Vote for Democracy" would have seen that number go up, not down by 10%.

 

Hey Nation! There is this groovy concept called math...

 

 

65.9% is a lot higher than many long established democracies. I don't understand why some claim that it was "rigged" either. Under the Parliamentary system the party that gets the most votes has an opportunity to form the government. If they are in the minority they can lose parliamentary votes such as budget and spending bills which usually trigger a vote of non-confidence if the government loses. A non-confidence vote loss can trigger an election and the people get to have their say. Seems fair to me.

[ThaiBunny]

3 minutes ago, ramrod711 said:

65.9% is a lot higher than many long established democracies.

I thought voting compulsory in Thailand.  A fall from 75% to 66% shows a singular contempt for the law even if not a lack of optimism about whether the result would make any difference

[ramrod711]

38 minutes ago, robblok said:

Good analysis the losers will be complaining about fraud for sure if it is there. I never believed in wide spread fraud and manipulation. Incidents will happen but large scale no way.

 

Yes let us not forget the huge number of PTP MP's that switched side and took with them their voters. Everyone though that these guys would lose the votes. That did not happen shows again that its not the party but the MP's that control the voting.

 

Still, i don't like that the junta did so well nor did I expect it. But it makes quite a few things clear for me.

My wife and I live in a small village near Chiang Mai. She voted, but not for PTP or Prayuth. I asked her why she voted for an obscure small party that had no chance of winning. Her answer was fascinating for me, "I want to make sure that nobody else can use my vote." I don't know if there is a policy or practice in our village of counting the unused ballots and filling them out, but she was certainly concerned.