Tonight Thailand is girding its loins for tomorrow’s election. The ballots are printed, the posters stand at every intersection, and starting in a few hours, Thais (as well as your resident foreign correspondent) will be barred from buying alcohol or sharing their political opinions on Twitter or Facebook. This month of campaigning has been fascinating … read the full post

In the last post we discussed what the Red Shirts want, so now we must turn to the other side of the long-running political conflict in Thailand: what do the Yellow Shirts want? Like the Red Shirts, the Yellow Shirts are not a political party but rather a political movement and an umbrella grouping for … read the full post

Folk around the world are aware that something is brewing in Thailand ahead of this weekend’s elections. They may have heard of the Red Shirts and the Yellow Shirts, though from there on out things likely get a bit hazy. The political situation in Thailand is so nuanced that just being in the country does … read the full post

The posters are hung, the rallies and protests have begun, and the alcohol restrictions have been posted: IT’S ELECTION TIME IN THAILAND! So exactly how does democracy work in the Kingdom, you might ask? It works the same way it works elsewhere: messily. Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932 with a prime minister … read the full post