Thailand's Top Bet For PM Has To Contend With Coups

It has been over three weeks since Thailand's opposition Move Forward Party, led by Harvard-educated Pita Limjaroenrat, won in the general election.

Photo Insert: Despite his party's stunning election success, Pita is still campaigning hard to secure the premiership, which remains up in the air.

Despite his party's stunning success, Pita is still campaigning hard to secure the premiership, which remains up in the air. If Thailand were a normal democracy, he would already be in office, Nikkei Asia editor-in-chief wrote.

Since 1932, Thailand has experienced 13 coups by military factions and another nine attempts. With a few brief exceptions, every prime minister from 1948 to 1991 was a general.

So far this century, two retired generals have been premier for over 10 years combined. Is there going to be another coup?

There have already been attempts to thwart Pita's political ambitions, just like what happened to his predecessors, and Thai voters are watching closely to see if history repeats itself.

Speaking of close ties between politics and the military, Pakistan also has a long history in this area.

Besides commanding over 600,000 troops, the military has directly ruled the country for several long periods since independence in 1947. Former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, in a retirement speech late last year, even spoke of "constant meddling by the army in politics for the last 70 years."

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