Election commissions and non-democratic outcomes: Thailand’s contentious 2019 election
| Published date | 01 November 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211000978 |
| Author | Petra Desatova,Saowanee T Alexander |
| Date | 01 November 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957211000978
Politics
2023, Vol. 43(4) 505 –519
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/02633957211000978
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Election commissions and
non-democratic outcomes:
Thailand’s contentious 2019
election
Petra Desatova
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Saowanee T Alexander
Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand
Abstract
Responding to a recent call for more in-depth qualitative studies of electoral management bodies
(EMBs), this article examines formally independent EMBs by using the example of the Election
Commission of Thailand (ECT) and the role it played in the recent 2019 election. We argue that
in non-democratic regimes with high levels of political polarisation and entrenched elites, formal
EMB independence may become part of the problem why elections fail. It creates opportunities
for long-term EMB capture by actors who wield power outside of formal politics and are
unaccountable to public interest. In case of the ECT, this has led to the decreasing electoral
standards culminating in the highly contentious 2019 election where the ECT’s administrative
efficiency and effectiveness of voting came secondary to pleasing the entrenched old Thai elite.
Its conduct has reduced Thailand’s prospects for a peaceful transition to democratic rule as those
who oppose the country’s old elite have increasingly limited opportunities to challenge it through
formal means.
Keywords
elections, electoral management bodies, independence, non-democratic regimes, Thailand
Received: 25th August 2020; Revised version received: 21st December 2020; Second revision received:
7th February 2021; Accepted: 11th February 2021
On 31 March 2019, 500 protesters gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument demanding
the dismissal of Thailand’s election commissioners. This was one in a series of small, yet
high-profile nationwide protest directed at the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT)
for mismanaging the country’s 2019 election. Held nearly 5 years after a junta called the
Corresponding author:
Petra Desatova, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Department of Political Science, University of
Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK-1353 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Email: petra@nias.ku.dk
1000978POL0010.1177/02633957211000978PoliticsDesatova and Alexander
research-article2021
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