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Prayuth Stays on as Prime Minister: What Does That Mean for Thailand?

<p>Thai parliament members attend a session to vote for prime minister in Bangkok, Thailand on June 5, 2019.</p>
Thai parliament members attend a session to vote for prime minister in Bangkok, Thailand on June 5, 2019. Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

By experts and staff

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In March, Thai voters cast their ballots in the country’s first election since a military coup in 2014. After months of waiting, a prime minister was finally chosen on Wednesday—Prayuth Chan-ocha, the retired general who led Thailand’s coup five years ago. His victory was all but guaranteed, even though anti-junta forces together got the most votes in the election, after the military and its allies launched criminal charges against top opposition leaders, and oversaw an unusual reading of electoral laws to help the pro-military party gain the most seats possible. 

What will Prayuth as a civilian prime minister look like? And how will he handle a very different Thai politics? For more, see my new Q&A on the Thai prime minister.