Abstract
ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that the majority of Thailand’s female Members of Parliament (MPs) elected in or before 2011 came from political families and constituted one small yet important part of the country’s dynastic democracy. This paper examines whether this pattern continued in the last two general elections of 2019 and 2023. It shows that a sizeable number of female MPs elected in 2019 and 2023 are related, by blood or marriage, to male MPs. While the restoration of electoral politics in 2019 has helped end military authoritarian rule, it has enabled well-connected and well-heeled women from political families to win parliamentary seats. Electoral dynasticism still constitutes a formidable, if not insurmountable, structural barrier to entry into Parliament for female candidates who do not have powerful family connections. Dynastic female MPs contribute, as in the previous decades, to adding a dynastic and patrimonial quality to Thailand’s democracy.
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