Thailand is having an election this weekend, and there may be a change of government. 

Image: Tvcccp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Interview with Hereward Fenton, CEO of 5EP.

There are some things about Thai democracy which I find a little bit strange and a little bit worrying. The first thing that bothers me - and I was surprised to discover this - is that people cannot easily vote outside their home province.

In most countries with a democratic election system, voting is straightforward, and it doesn't matter where you are. If you're in your local electorate, you can simply go and vote as normal. If you are outside of your electorate, you can also vote easily - you just have to tell the voting registry people where you normally live, and they will redirect your vote to that electorate. But in Thailand this doesn't occur. In Thailand If you want to vote outside of your home province you have to go online and make a booking, and it's a little bit complicated. That's okay for people who are very busy all day with computers who understand it, but what about poor people who don't even have a computer, who don't understand the process? What are they going to do? And let's remember in Thailand, many people who live in Bangkok do not technically vote in Bangkok because their home province is somewhere else. They have come to Bangkok to work and make money. When there is an election, they should be going home to vote, but it's a long way.

Most people don't want to travel several hours just to vote, especially people who don't have a lot of money. The result of this I believe is that a lot of people who should be voting are not going to vote, and the people who are not going to vote will largely be people with low income, who are possibly working very hard. Think about people who are working on construction sites. Do you think the boss of your construction site is going to let you go home for a day or two to vote? I don't know. Maybe they do, but in a normal business having many employees who need to suddenly leave is a big problem. I'd like to find out more about that.

I would also like to know about people who work in retail jobs all over Bangkok who are registered in a province outside of Bangkok. Are they all going home? Are they voting online? I would like to know how difficult it might be to use those online forms. I've seen other IT services provided by the Thai government, which haven't been very efficient. 

I wouldn't be surprised if there are problems with those online systems, as they can get jammed up with too many people trying to access them at the same time. These kinds of systems are also vulnerable to voter fraud.  This is a serious issue with democracy in Thailand, which I think really needs to be addressed, and we need to understand more about it. 

How can democracy function if only rich people can become political candidates?

The other thing I'd like to say is that there seems to be a pattern in Thailand of candidates from rich families who are able to pay for promotion and marketing, capturing the votes of a large part of the population just because they're rich. We've seen that with Taksin and his sister and his daughter. They're all part of one family and this family is incredibly rich.

How can democracy function if only rich people can become political candidates? Democracy should not be about how much money you have. If I could be a good leader, it doesn't matter if I'm rich or poor. I have to prove that I can be a good leader. Maybe I came from a poor family, but if I worked hard, did a good job and showed people that I am serious and genuine and diligent, then they should vote for me, and I don't need to be rich because I'm representing the government. I don't need so much money in the bank. 

These kinds of problems I see in Thailand also happen in many other countries. They happen in the United States. Donald Trump, who of course is a billionaire, was able to self-fund his election campaign.

Most of the candidates in the United States are rich, but it's wrong. Being rich shouldn't be a prerequisite. It shouldn't be a requirement for someone to be rich before they can get into politics. I'm very against that. 

The other problem in Thailand is the long history of military intervention.

The man who is currently the prime minister of Thailand was not originally elected. He was supposedly elected later, after he took control of the country by a military coup. People question the validity of elections when a leader has come to power by force. Can he ever be legitimate? 

So, we have one party represented by a dictator who came to power in a military coup. On the other side we have a representative of a very rich family in Thailand. Two members of this family have faced criminal charges, the third being the younger daughter who is the only one still living in Thailand.

This is very peculiar. The other major party is the “Future Forward” party, previously led by a billionaire called Thanatorn, who I think has been banned or expelled for some complicated financial reasons.

Oligarchy means rule of the few

Oligarchy is a system whereby a small group of rich people control everything. The word goes back to ancient Greece 2,500 years ago. Oligarchy means rule of the few. It means the very powerful rich people control everything. Democracy for them is like a game. It's not real. The same little group of rich, powerful people is always controlling everything. They exclude everyone else. They exclude ordinary people. 

I think the only hope for Thailand is a new constitution to determine how the democracy should work. I don't know how that can happen, unless you get one of these oligarchs in charge who wants it to happen. You will need an oligarch to decide that they want a better future for Thailand to change the constitution. 

Democracy is just an idea.

These problems with democracy aren’t unique to Thailand. They occur in every country.

The solution is always difficult. We have not found the best solution anywhere. Democracy is something we aim towards - it's a goal for the future. I don't think we're very close to it. It's just an idea at this time.

As you may remember, millions of people believe that that the 2020 US election was stolen. They believe the voting machines were rigged. They believe that, but nevertheless they will go and vote in the next election. 

Democracy in the United States is broken.

I can't single out Thailand and say Thailand is terrible. Thailand, along with many other countries has a broken democracy. The solution to it is people like you and me, ordinary people who aren’t rich, standing up, taking our place, being honest and acting with integrity.

If you want to do that, I suggest you become a citizen journalist and join 5EP today!