I - Introduction

Summary

By midnight of 13 September 1992, Sunday — the day when Thailand's nineteenth general election was held — euphoria reigned the country when it was clear that the pro-democracy parties had won a simple majority in the House of Representatives and would be able to form the next government. The four so-called “angelic” parties — Democrat, New Aspiration, Palang Dharma, and Solidarity — together commanded 185 seats out of 360 seats in the Lower House. The Democrat Party won the most number of seats, 79, while the New Aspiration Party, the Palang Dharma, and Solidarity won 51, 47, and 8, respectively. The rest of the seats went to the most “satanic” party, Chart Thai, with 77 seats, and to Chart Pattana, 60 seats, Social Action, 22, Seritham, 8, Muan Chon, 4, Prachakorn Thai, 3, and Rassadorn, 1 (see Appendix Table 1). The voter turn-out was the highest in the history of Thailand's elections — 62 per cent nation-wide.

This snap election — within a period of six months — was held under very special political circumstances. It was held as a means to break a political impasse caused by a division between the pro-democracy and the pro-military forces following the election in March and the military crackdown on the demonstrators in May. The election was indeed a referendum to deny the military outright involvement in politics. The military, after having seized power from a civilian government in February 1991, indicated that it was not hungry for power by appointing a well-respected former technocrat, Anand Panyarachun, as prime minister. But that was contradicted by a military-constructed constitution that effectively put the military in firm control of politics; the military-appointed senate was given overwhelming power, and a non-elected person was eligible to assume the premiership. The public's fear of the military dominating politics was confirmed when General Suchinda, the then Supreme Commander and Commanderin-Chief of the Army and a key person in the military junta, took up the premiership in early April without having stood in the election, despite his promise late in 1991 that he would not accept the top job.