The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election
Thailand’s 2023 election outcome did not correspond with the results: the Move Forward Party “won” the polls, but runner-up Pheu Thai ended up forming the government. How could this have happened? This article offers two explanations. First, results and outcomes have typically differed in recent Tha...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174772 |
| _version_ | 1811679297979547648 |
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| author | McCargo, Duncan |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences McCargo, Duncan |
| author_sort | McCargo, Duncan |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Thailand’s 2023 election outcome did not correspond with the results: the Move Forward Party “won” the polls, but runner-up Pheu Thai ended up forming the government. How could this have happened? This article offers two explanations. First, results and outcomes have typically differed in recent Thai elections: in itself, the substitution of Pheu Thai for Move Forward was nothing unusual. Second, in 2023 an elite pact was in place to ensure that Pheu Thai and the country’s conservative elite could engage in a form of promiscuous power-sharing following the May 14 polls. The article explains the politics behind this deal-making, and argues that the creation of the Srettha Thavisin government may not have been an accidental electoral outcome, but could have formed part of a deliberate strategy by the Thai establishment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:06:56Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/174772 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:06:56Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1747722024-04-09T07:47:24Z The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election McCargo, Duncan School of Social Sciences Social Sciences Thailand Election Thailand’s 2023 election outcome did not correspond with the results: the Move Forward Party “won” the polls, but runner-up Pheu Thai ended up forming the government. How could this have happened? This article offers two explanations. First, results and outcomes have typically differed in recent Thai elections: in itself, the substitution of Pheu Thai for Move Forward was nothing unusual. Second, in 2023 an elite pact was in place to ensure that Pheu Thai and the country’s conservative elite could engage in a form of promiscuous power-sharing following the May 14 polls. The article explains the politics behind this deal-making, and argues that the creation of the Srettha Thavisin government may not have been an accidental electoral outcome, but could have formed part of a deliberate strategy by the Thai establishment. Fieldwork for this article was supported by the grant “Popular Participation and Leadership in Asian Democracies,” funded by the Research Council of Norway (Project Number: 314849). 2024-04-09T07:47:24Z 2024-04-09T07:47:24Z 2024 Journal Article McCargo, D. (2024). The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election. Pacific Affairs, 97(1), 79-98. https://dx.doi.org/10.5509/2024971-art4 0030-851X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174772 10.5509/2024971-art4 2-s2.0-85185962646 1 97 79 98 en Pacific Affairs © Pacific Affairs. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Thailand Election McCargo, Duncan The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title | The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title_full | The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title_fullStr | The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title_full_unstemmed | The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title_short | The real deal: results versus outcomes of the 2023 Thai general election |
| title_sort | real deal results versus outcomes of the 2023 thai general election |
| topic | Social Sciences Thailand Election |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174772 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mccargoduncan therealdealresultsversusoutcomesofthe2023thaigeneralelection AT mccargoduncan realdealresultsversusoutcomesofthe2023thaigeneralelection |