While Thailand continues to stumble to be taken seriously as a democratic country despite claiming to have had “democracy” for eight decades, other Asian countries are making dramatic changes. Enthusiastic voters in Indonesia and Afghanistan, long seen as political basket cases, have made their voices heard, as have the citizens of India, the world’s largest democracy.
Indonesians went to the polls on April 9 to choose legislative assembly members, and although results are not due until May, it is astonishing that an archipelago of some 18,000 islands with 240 million people managed this task without many problems.
The Indonesian polls were only the fourth since the fall of strongman Suharto in 1998. Early counts point to major changes for Asean’s largest economy. Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, remains the front-runner for the presidency, but the centre-left PDI-P party that is backing him garnered only 19% of the popular vote, far less than the 30% it had anticipated.
This means there will be more political manoeuvring before the July presidential election. A party or coalition needs at least 20% of the seats in parliament or 25% of the popular vote if it wants to field a candidate for president. PFI-P has already lined up a coalition partner to keep Jokowi’s candidacy alive.
Also in the midst of elections is India, with 815 million eligible voters and 15,000 candidates vying for the 543-seat parliament.
It’s costing India $5 billion to stage the elections that started on April 7 and are held in phases due to the sheer size of the country and the logistics involved. The last of the voting will take place on May 12 with results due on May 16.
It may surprise some people that India’s elections are mostly peaceful, though parts of the country remain notorious for rigged polls or intimidation of voters.
Among the states notorious for political violence are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, heartland states that contribute the bulk of parliamentarians to the lower house.
This year was no different as insurgents in Chhattisgarh, who have been fighting a four-decade battle with authorities, told local people they risked the wrath of the rebels if they exercised their right.
The rebels since 2008 have been responsible for about 4,800 deaths, nearly 3,000 of them civilians. Only last month they killed 15 law enforcement officers.
But despite what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called “India’s biggest internal security threat”, people formed long lines to cast their votes. The Election Commission of India did not bow to threats and undertook the polling as the law requires.
Meanwhile, who can fail to be inspired by what took place on April 5 in Afghanistan? Citizens there turned out in huge numbers to choose a new president despite threats from Taliban thugs.
A threat from the Taliban would send a chill down anyone’s spine, but the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan defied the enemies of democracy, in line with the wishes of the people.
The nearly 60% turnout of the 12 million eligible voters was a testament to the fact that the wishes of the people were being respected and that the effectiveness of terror and violence is waning.
Elsewhere in Asia we are seeing more stirrings of democracy, from Myanmar where polls will take place next year, to Malaysia and Singapore where voters continue to chip away at decades of one-party rule.
So why is Thailand, once a beacon of democracy in Asean while the likes of Suharto and Marcos were plundering their countries, going downhill? Look no further than the Election Commission of Thailand.
The job of any election commission is to ensure that voting goes ahead no matter what impediments exist. Yes, there was some violence committed by people trying to block candidate registrations, while the People’s Democratic Reform Committee pushed for a boycott. That seemed a good enough excuse for the Election Commission to ask the courts to have the Feb 2 poll results nullified.
I am glad to see so many vernacular Thai newspapers calling the EC to account for its lack of commitment. I too believe that if the commissioners can’t do their jobs as per the constitution then they should quit. The threats they faced were nothing compared with those made to their peers in Afghanistan and India by far more powerful organisations than the PDRC, and yet the people in those countries have had their say.
More than 20 million people participated in Thailand’s Feb 2 polls despite the best efforts of anti-democracy rabble-rousers. Yet the Election Commission in its timidity has basically shown that it does not respect voters’ rights.