BANGKOK: Thais vote on Sunday in an election pitting the popular reformists who won last time against the conservative who ended up as prime minister, with ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra looming large from his prison cell.
The Southeast Asian nation´s next government will need to reckon with a long-standing border dispute with Cambodia that twice erupted into deadly fighting last year, and the multibillion-dollar transnational cyberscam networks based in the region.
Economic growth is anaemic, with the tourism sector vital but arrivals yet to return to their pre-Covid highs, and fast-growing Vietnam is now attracting more foreign direct investment.
No party is expected to win an outright majority, and analysts say the election could be a repeat of the last poll less than three years ago.
Then, the previous version of the progressive People´s Party recorded the largest vote share and the most parliament seats, but its candidate was blocked from the prime ministership and the party was later dissolved.
Instead Thaksin´s Pheu Thai party, which came second, formed a coalition with the third-placed conservatives Bhumjaithai, only to have its prime minister removed by court order.
He was succeeded by Thaksin´s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was judicially ousted herself before parliament anointed her former coalition partner, Anutin Charnvirakul, in September -- the country´s third prime minister in two years.
“Thai elections have effectively become decoupled from government formation,” political scientist Napon Jatusripitak said.
