Thai Junta Plans Election for Autumn 2015

Over the weekend, Thailand’s junta leader, Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced a firmer roadmap toward civilian rule than the army had previously revealed. Prayuth went on Thai television and announced that a drafting committee will write a new permanent constitution, to replace the 2007 version the army junked in its May coup. The committee will finish drafting by the middle of next year, Prayuth announced, and then by the fall of 2015, Thailand can hold national elections again. In the meantime, Thailand will operate under an interim constitution that the junta draws up. The junta will pick some civilian ministers to help run the country.

Although allowing some non-military men and women to help run one of the biggest economies in Asia is at least a small step forward—some Thai businesspeople had feared that Prayuth and the army believed they themselves could run all the ministries, as if it were 1960 again—Prayuth’s timeframe left a lot of questions unanswered. No one is going to ask Prayuth these questions, since criticism of the junta is officially banned in Thailand. But a few questions left unanswered include: