Asia | Coup politics in Thailand

Curiouser and curiouser

Thailand spins in circles as the generals’ friends vote down their draft constitution

ONLY the wildest optimists still believe that Thailand’s military junta, which seized power in a coup last year, intends to step down soon. A farce that played out in the Parliament House in Bangkok on September 6th has made that even plainer. In a televised vote following a cheesy group photo, a junta-backed National Reform Council voted to abandon a proposed new constitution which a junta-backed set of drafters had spent ten months drawing up. The decision starts a new drafting process, which will take another seven months at least. There is little chance of fresh elections until at least 2017, and possibly long after that.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Curiouser and curiouser”

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