Foreign Affairs
•68% Informative
Thailand’s parliamentary elections in May delivered an outright repudiation of the ruling government.
Over 70 parties competed in this historic election in which over 75 percent of eligible voters went to the polls.
Move Forward's success stemmed in large part from its forthright criticism of the role of the military and the monarchy in Thai politics.
Many opponents of the current government headed by Prayut have hoped to desacralize the king and relax lèse majesté laws.
The military embraced its role as protector of the monarchy during the Cold War era when U.S. funding bolstered the alliance between the military and the monarchy as conservative bulwarks against the spread of communism.
Five million Thais cast ballots in this May’s election for the first time.
Thailand has averaged one coup every seven years since 1932, when a coup overthrew the absolute monarchy and established a constitutional monarchy.
The military uses the disruption as an excuse to stage a coup, crack down on dissent, and eventually hold elections for a new government.
Until Thais can hold a public conversation about how power operates behind the scenes in their country, it will be difficult for reform to take root.
VR Score
76
Informative language
80
Neutral language
38
Article tone
semi-formal
Language
English
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63
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Hate speech
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Attention-grabbing headline
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Known propaganda techniques
not detected
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short-lived
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