The Thai Parliamentary Elections of 1992: Return to Democracy in an Atypical Year

Abstract

Thai voters went to the polls on September 13 in the second general parliamentary election of 1992, called by Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun to end the political impasse caused by the May succession crisis, street violence, and subsequent failure of parties to form a coalition government. The two elections (March 22 and September 13) are significant because of three features: military leaders coopted political parties in a bid to support their involvement in politics; the prime minister created an independent election-monitoring body; and politicians in both elections laid a seemingly clear choice before the electorate of promilitary or prodemocracy parties. However, these features are all temporal and do not represent a basic change in Thai electoral politics; rather they make 1992 an atypical year. Elections in Thailand have not always been an important indicator of democratization; since 1932, they have more commonly been held to legitimize the seizure of power by a military faction. From 1978-91, however, Thailand experienced a period of mostly stable civilian government during which four parliamentary elections were held, the Parliament was revitalized, and the press reported more freely. In 1988 Chatichai Choonhawan became the first elected civilian prime minister since the 1970s. But the 1991 coup placed the future of democratization in doubt as military officers staged a coup and dismissed the elected politicians. The two general elections held this year signify not only the formal but also the substantive return of power to elected politicians and a resumption of the process of democratization.