Thailand

Never before in modern Thai political history has a civilian government sustained its full term in office. However, Chuan Leekpai has achieved this, albeit with a weakening of his credibility. In other words, he and his government struggled to complete the full term, in the face of serious criticism and outright challenges from various sectors. At the beginning of 2000, the Chuan government survived no-confidence votes, especially on the motion of a false declaration of assets by his Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Affairs, and concurrendy the General Secretary of his Democrat Party, Sanan Kachornprasart. When the case of Sanan was first submitted to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), and then forwarded to the Constitutional Court, Sanan was found guilty. The opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), mosdy from the New Aspiration Party (NAP), tried to use this verdict to force Chuan to declare the dissolution of Parliament by their en masse resignation from the House in June.1 Neither the politicians nor others could successfully pressure him into an early resignation, however. They had to wait until 9 November, only eight days before the official termination of government at full term, when Chuan finally declared the dissolution of Parliament. The elections were held on 6 January 2001. There were people who had come to believe that there was no alternative to the old style of politics, and that the sluggish election procedure operating under the umbrella of the Election Commission (EC) would delay the election results. There were others who expected that the elections would bring about a political transition towards democratization. If the elections had failed, it could have been seen as a setback for democracy not only in Thailand but also in Southeast Asia.2 The end of the Chuan government marked a constitutional transition from the old constitution to the new one promulgated in 1997. The new constitution alters the parliamentary composition, which used to comprise of 393 members. It now consists of 500 members ? 400 elected individually via

Classical mechanics · Moment (physics · Physics · Political science · Transition (genetics · Cambodian History and Society · Chemistry · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

• Vote Buying and Village Outrage in an Election in Northern Thailand

  Katherine A Bowie•The Journal of Asian Studies•2008

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