Abhisit and elections

Since Abhisit Vejjajiva became leader of the Democrat Party, the party has boycotted two elections, lost all the others, supported a coup and military junta, supported a gaggle of anti-democrat/anti-election groups, been hoisted into power by the military and other powerful forces, and twice shot down protesters. When in opposition, it has also trashed parliament by adopting violent methods and when in power was responsible for a regime of repression. The party is now in the hands of political extremists driven by ultra-nationalism, ultra-royalism and similar reactionary ideologies as well as deep personal hatreds of Thaksin Shinawatra and those associated with him.

That is an abysmal record. It is made worse by the party’s incapacity for anything with even a whiff of creative policy and Abhisit’s incapacity as a leader.

Yet Abhisit, born of the elite and with a huge ego, seems to think that he matters and makes grand statements to the media from time to time.

Most recently, the leader of the Democrat Party’s demise “has insisted that a new election is not a sufficient solution to Thailand’s ongoing political crisis, contrary to the government’s claims.” Indeed, Abhisit doesn’t just criticize the government, but a broad swathe of society that has viewed an election as an important element of decision-making in a so-called democratic polity. He whines: “At this moment many think … a smooth, problem-free election is an adequate solution…. But that is not the truth.”.

We are not sure what truth could emanate from Abhisit, and we agree that an election may not solve all of the political problems facing the country, but what is Abhisit’s alternative is unstated, at least in this report. However, as a famous philosopher once said, don’t look at what they say but what they do. In Abhisit’s case, what he and his party does is try to bring down elected governments by undemocratic means. To do this they support anti-democrats and fascists.

Abhisit’s view is that “even if the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra manages to organise a new round of polls—the previous general election on 2 February was invalidated by the Constitutional Court—the public may not accept the election results because of widespread mistrust towards the government.” We can only assume that Abhisit is again going to make his party boycott and election. Indeed, the report states: “Abhisit refused to say whether his party will run in the next election…”.

Of course, Abhisit’s hope is that the creeping judicial coup will have solved his problem of not being able to win an election before the dinosaurs at the Election Commission manage to arrange another poll.

Abhisit’s other hope is that the military ousts the government in favor of the Democrat Party-backed anti-democrat movement. He droned on about a possible coup if there are “clashes between rival protest groups” and compared this with the coup “that ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.” There were virtually no clashes before the 2006 coup, but Abhisit is clear: “I want all sides to look at the events of 2006. The date of the election was already set, political parties already began vote canvassing, but it ended in a military coup…”.

Abhisit continues to head a political party that is meant to engage in electoral politics but repeatedly boycotts them in favor of extra-legal, semi-legal and illegal attacks on the electoral system.