New Thai Legislative Assembly Dominated By Military

A new Thai national legislative assembly dominated by military officers has been endorsed by the King of Thailand, strengthening the army's control over the country.



Out of the 200 members selected entirely by the junta who seized power May 22, more than 100 are serving or retired military officers and ten are policemen. It is possible that 20 more members, not selected by the junta but representative of professional groups, will be added in the coming days.



"It is one more disappointment. It maintains the near absolute control of the junta on the country's affairs, because not only do they have the majority in the assembly, but they will also appoint the members of the reform council which will approve the constitution," Gothom Arya, the director of the Research Center for Peace Building at Mahidol University, told the Anadolu Agency on Friday.



Outside of the legislative assembly, a 250-member reform council will be established to draw guidelines for the writing of the new constitution. It is also widely expected that the junta chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, will be appointed prime minister next month by the assembly.



Defense Ministry Permanent Secretary General Surasak Kanchanarat told media this week that the appointment of such a large number of military officers was needed "because the country is not yet in a normal situation."



He underlined that the officers selected were "the cream of the crop" and "used to holding positions of command."



Political commentators have highlighted the similarities between the setup of the new assembly and that established after previous coups in the kingdom - bar one overlying factor.



The Thai military has a long history of intervention in politics, with 19 coups carried out since the abolition of the absolute monarchy in 1932. 



After the coup of February 1991, Thailand was in a similar situation with a junta in power alongside a government and a legislative assembly filled with men in uniforms. 



The government then, however, was led by an independent former diplomat, Anand Panyarachun, who held his ground against the diktats of the junta. 



"In 1991, the government had some kind of autonomy. With the extensive powers granted by the interim constitution to the military, we have to go back much more into the past to find a similar situation," Arya told AA.



The junta has promised "fully democratic elections" in October 2015 after the endorsement of a permanent constitution, which will not be submitted to a popular referendum.



Thailand's political crisis began in November when then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra faced a wave of opposition protests after her government pushed through an amnesty that would have lifted the 2008 corruption conviction against her brother Thaksin, a divisive figure and ex-premier deposed in a 2006 coup.



Confronted by massive demonstrations, the government withdrew the bill, but the opposition alleged corruption by the government and Shinawatra family.



Yingluck dissolved the parliament December 9 and called February 2 elections, which were disrupted by the People Democratic Reform Committee, who want an unelected "people's council" to run Thailand until the political system is reformed.



She was then herself removed by the Constitutional Court on May 7 in relation to the transfer of a high-ranking civil servant in 2011. The May 22 coup removed the remaining ministers and dissolved the Senate, the only standing legislative assembly.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Krung Thep