The founder and chairman of Asia's only military kratocracy passed a milestone last Tuesday. Gen (Ret) Prayut has now been in office four years and 82 days, more than half the time of the general he had hoped was his mentor, the leader of the 1980s, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda.
In the post-war era, only Gen Prem (eight years and 154 days) and four other men were at the top longer than Gen (Ret) Prayut has been. Just one of the six was elected. They are Thanom Kittikachorn (nearly 10 years), Plaek Pibulsonggram (nine years-plus), Sarit Thanarat (just over five years) and the man called South who comes from the North. He lasted more than five and a half years before a coup ended his stay.
It may be a tad premature for the general prime minister to be thinking "Hun Sen, hmmmm". Not only has the former Khmer Rouge officer been 33 years at the top, he's still counting, and so Gen (Ret) Prayut isn't catching up. The point is that Gen (Ret) Prayut has held absolute political power for 1,551 days and that's not chopped liver. Nice feeling.
Especially, in 2018, without a bothersome election. Gen Prem had elections. So did Pibulsonggram, so did ... well, they all did, except one. It is well into the time that even by the standards of dictators, the lack of an election is not just lamentable but actually quite remarkable.
As of today, there are 28 weeks (195 days) to the last Sunday in February. Most countries in the world that aren't the United States hold general elections on less notice than that. But every one of "most countries" stands ready to have a countrywide vote on short notice.
As of T-minus-195 in Thailand, there is no election date, a lame duck Election Commission, a harshly stressed ban on all political activity even by the coup-enabling friend Suthep Thaugsuban, open harassment of loyal opposition, a system of election monitors in uproar and total lack of voter-education on completely new proportional voting while the general prime minister campaigns relentlessly with carefully picked, adoring crowds from the Tham Luang caves to the Phetchaburi floods and everywhere between.
Last week, it seemed once again that the date of the 2015 election scheduled for some time in February was going to slip closer to New Year's Day 2020 than New Year's Day 2019. A problem had cropped up. It seems the outgoing Election Commission is appointing a lot of new 50,000 baht-per-month poll monitors, and shouldn't that be the job of the incoming Election Commission?
Even junta-appointed chief constitution writer Meechai Ruchupan, author of more failed constitutions than any living person, lost it. "Why do they [meaning the junta's legislators of the NLA] have to do that? Poll inspectors are the EC's tools".
The usual applesauce from the general prime minister followed. The National Legislative Assembly is holding up the process, not him. There are still organic bills to pass. This is a matter of procedure. And then a statement directly from the singular root of all power, who has personally changed the election date five times not counting the current one: "The election roadmap remains unchanged."
This raises two obvious questions. There's an election roadmap? Really?
But then there was an unannounced poll. The junta's secretariat of the Senate put up an online survey asking everyone who happened by, "Do you think it's a great and wonderful idea to support your general prime minister and his loyal NLA in dumping the old election monitors and then appointing new ones no matter how long it takes?" We don't vouch 100% for the exactness of the translation, but roughly.
Saddam Hussein once got 100% of the vote. And on Thursday the unembarrassed Senate secretariat announced the result of their poll was 6,800 votes/clicks in favour, 0 (zero, goose egg) opposed.
North Korea has elections. Not only that, but the ruling Workers' Party has never got 100% of the votes. Not only that, but current consequences of showing support for unapproved candidates or for daring to oppose approved figures are about identical. The police might invite you for a cup of coffee, some soldiers might visit your parents and employer, you might develop trouble when you need an official document, you might be charged with sedition.
It's one thing to call an election, claim voter support, campaign feverishly and win by a landslide.
But it's a unique thing to claim 100% of voter support and still show fear about even setting an election date.