Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
For the first time in 12 years, Bangkokians will vote for a new city council, at an election expected in May. While this local election may be overshadowed by the upcoming Bangkok governor vote, it is receiving serious attention from big political parties. The Democrat, Pheu Thai, Move Forward, Kla, and the Thai Sang Thai Party,
Former Future Forward MP, and a key member of the Progressive Movement, Pannika Wanich, was indicted today (Friday) in the Criminal Court by public prosecutors for violating the Computer Crime Act, for her Facebook posts made almost a decade ago which prosecutors claim may cause public concern or panic and jeopardise national security. The court
The Supreme Administrative Court’s recent decision to retry the Hopewell case may help the government avoid paying a huge sum in compensation which has been dubbed the “price of stupidity”. For the past two decades, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and Transport Ministry have been caught up in a legal battle with the doomed
Watana Muangsook has become the latest Thai political heavyweight to be jailed in a high-profile corruption case. On March 4, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders upheld a September 2020 verdict that found him guilty of power abuse in connection with the Ua Arthorn low-cost housing project when serving as social development
Bangkok Deputy Governor Sakoltee Phattiyakul has resigned, effective today (Monday), to prepare to run in the forthcoming Bangkok gubernatorial election as an independent candidate, tentatively scheduled for May. The Bangkok governor election in May will be the first in nine years, as M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, from the Democrat Party, who won his second term in
An elderly Thai man, who was hit in the head by a rubber bullet during an anti-government protest in Bangkok’s Din Daeng area on the night of August 15th last year, died in his Din Daeng apartment yesterday (Saturday). According to the Centre of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), 64-year old Mana Hongthong was
Thailand’s former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun said that it is about time for the older generation of Thais to step aside and allow the new generation to take the helm of the country. He also said that, although he has no problem with the lèse majesté law per se, it should be amended. In his
Thailand’s Criminal Court sentenced a Facebook page administrator to two years in prison today (Friday), after finding him guilty of committing an act of lèse majesté, an offence in the Kingdom, by pasting a sticker on the portrait of His Majesty the King in front of the Supreme Court on the night of September 19th,
The Bangkok South Criminal Court has rejected an application from a Thai student, currently facing a lèse majesté charge, seeking to be allowed to pursue her post-graduate studies in Germany under a scholarship program. According to Krisadang Nutcharat, a lawyer at Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), the decision is the second against Ravisara Eksgool,
For outspoken student activist Netiwit “Frank” Chotiphatphaisal, last week’s decision by Chulalongkorn University executives to remove him as its Student Government president was comparable to a coup. The decision was driven by “moral weakness” and obedience to “the dictatorial power”, he added. “They did not care about the votes of more than 10,000 students that
After being held in Bangkok Remand Prison for more than 200 days, on lèse majesté and other protest-related charges, anti-establishment Ratsadon group leader Anon Nampa was granted three months of conditional bail today (Monday) by Bangkok South Criminal Court. In his Twitter post, Norasate Nanongtoom, a lawyer at the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, quoted
The Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) in Thailand has resolved to file malfeasance charges, under Section 157 of the Penal Code, with the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders against exiled former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra over the illegal transfer of Thawil Pliensri, secretary-general of the National Security Council back in 2011. Secretary-General
