Campaigning has wrapped up for Thailand’s election with the main parties making their final pitch to large crowds at their final rallies.
Some 52 million Thais are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election, with opposition parties vowing to end the military’s political dominance and even reform the all-powerful monarchy, an issue previously seen as taboo.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who came to power in a 2014 coup and now leads the newly formed United Thai Nation party, made an emotional last plea for votes .
“We have to love each other. We are Thailand, we are a family,” he told his followers.
“If we’re not elected, I won’t be here … will you miss me if I’m not here? Because I’ll miss you all.”
Opinion polls show Pheu Thai, the largest opposition party, is likely to win the majority of seats, as it has done in every election since 2001.
Among its prime ministerial candidates is Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of family patriarch and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was given a rock star welcome when she arrived at the party’s closing rally in Bangkok.
“May 14 will be a historic day. We will move from a dictatorship to a democratically elected government,” Paetongtarn, 36, told thousands of supporters dressed in the party’s signature red.
The election is the first since 2020, when mass protests called for unprecedented reforms to the powers of ultra-rich King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Move Forward, led by Harvard-educated telegenic entrepreneur Pita Limjaroenrat, appears to have harnessed much of the energy of this youth-led protest movement, which expressed deep disaffection with the old political system.
But in a kingdom that has seen a dozen coups over the past century, there are fears the military could try to cling to power, despite assurances from the current army chief that he would not intervene this time .
Whoever becomes prime minister will have to win the support not only of the 500 people elected in the lower house, but also of the 250 members of the Senate appointed by the military.
