Could there be another coup in Thailand? VIDEO
Our analysis about the likelihood of another coup in Thailand, along with a list of 12 previous coups and their consequences. Please watch the video and subscribe to our YouTube Thaiger channel.
Last Thursday was another day of political cat and mouse, protesters staging three more rallies around Bangkok whilst officials again huffed and puffed, not really sure exactly how to proceed. Up to now their answer has been to arrest, then release, protest leaders. Then arrest them again… avoiding any real dialogue or progress on the demanded reforms.
Even a joint sitting of the Thai Parliament at the start of last week provided no clear way forward from the current impasse. Indeed a Suan Dusit Poll indicated that most people surveyed believed the joint sitting of parliament was just a stalling tactic by the incumbent coalition.
Then there were calls for another coup.
Thailand has already had 12 coups in an almost predictable cycle of military coup, revised constitutions, new elections, protests, the coup, rinse and repeat.
(List of all coups in the video)
The parliamentary speaker, the respected Chuan Leekpai, insisted he didn’t want to chair any reconciliation committee.
A 2 day emergency joint sitting of parliament, which ended on Tuesday, failed to produce any resolution to the deteriorating political impasse. Indeed the ruling government insisted that no motions could be voted on after the debates. Nothing was resolved.
They’re young, mobile, motivated and use modern social media intuitively. There’s also a lot of them. Across the table, the current government, and the PM, have incumbency along with the support of the Thai army, the palace and the guns.
At some point there will have to be concessions from some, or all, of the main players. Any coup would merely push any real changes down the road and allow the current inconvenient discussions to fester.
