Thailand protests could be setting stage for coup

For the past three years, politics in Thailand has been dominated by a man who hasn’t been in power for almost a decade yet who casts a long shadow over swathes of the electorate. Thaksin Shinawatra was the prime minister but has since been convicted — the voracity of the evidence against him is at least questionable — of corruption.

His sister is now the prime minister and has been fighting to clear his name through passage of an amnesty bill — a law that has been rejected by Thailand’s senate. But protests still continue from those opposed to passage of the law, with demonstrations targeting government buildings on a rotating basis. Life in Bangkok is stalled by these demonstrations while the nation’s economy is suffering because of the government’s preoccupation with the political unrest.

All sides in this dispute need to bear in mind that there is a long history of Thailand’s military intervening to end political crises, with democracy being suspended for years at a time. If this impasse continues for much longer, the troops may very well be mobilised once more.