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1 1 (August 26, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveqmb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: a~ Congr s&on I Res InPn ing t Iej I ive d ~a 3rch Se Updated August 26, 2024 Thailand: Background and U.S. Relations Thailand is a long-time military ally and economic partner of the United States. The United States operates numerous regional offices from the Bangkok Embassy, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions in the world. Cooperation includes security initiatives and operations, intelligence and law enforcement efforts, and regional health and education programs. Nearly two decades of political turmoil in Thailand, including military coups in 2006 and 2014, have hampered policymaking in Bangkok and complicated relations. National elections held in May 2023 have prolonged that instability, as conservative stakeholders blocked the reformist party that earned the largest vote total from forming a government. Thailand was once the most democratic country in Southeast Asia; efforts by successive Thai governments to manipulate political processes and suppress critics over the past two decades have raised questions about its prospects for returning to democratic governance, including peaceful transfer of power and protection for civil liberties. The U.S. State Department and human rights organizations report numerous issues, including curtailment of freedoms of speech and assembly, harassment of government critics, use of lese majeste (offenses against the monarchy) laws to muzzle dissent, arbitrary arrests, and a lack of protections for human trafficking victims, laborers, and refugees. As U.S.-China tensions shape regional decisionmaking, Thailand remains an arena of competition and an important component of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy. Congress may wish to consider whether and how it might respond to Thailand's democratic backsliding as it considers appropriations to support bilateral programs and conducts oversight of the executive branch's stewardship of a military alliance with one of the region's largest economies that also is home to key strategic military facilities. 2023 Eections Thailand held national elections in May 2023, the first since 2019. In heavy turnout, two reformist parties earned over 58% of seats in the Lower House of Parliament: the Move Forward Party, led by U.S.-educated Pita Limjaroenrat, which advocated for lessening privileges enjoyed by the military and monarchy; and Pheu Thai, associated with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been in self-imposed exile since being deposed in the 2006 coup. Under electoral rules in place at the time, the Prime Minister was selected in a vote of the 500-member elected Lower House and a 250-seat Upper House, whose members were appointed by the military. After an initial vote for a Pita-led coalition government failed, Parliament voided Pita's nomination as Prime Minister and a constitutional court suspended him from Parliament for failing to disclose his holdings in a defunct media firm before running for office. Many observers considered the suspension politically motivated. Pheu Thai formed an 11-party coalition and Parliament approved Srettha Thavasin, a media tycoon, as Prime Minister in August 2023, but the constitutional court removed him in August 2024 for alleged ethical violations. Parliament then chose the 37- year-old political newcomer Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thaksin's youngest daughter, as Prime Minister. Thaksin himself returned from 15 years in exile in August 2023; many observers assessed that he had reached an agreement with the military and monarchy to serve a short prison term and limit his political activities in exchange for being allowed to return. He was immediately arrested on corruption charges and held in a military hospital. After his sentence was shortened from eight years to one year, he was released early in March 2024. In May 2024 Thaksin was charged under lese majeste laws for comments he made in 2015, suggesting Pheu Thai's partnership with the military is fragile. Many analysts say Paetongtarn's ascension as Prime Minister will not mollify Thailand's conservatives or quell popular demand for political and economic reform. The reformist People's Party, the successor to the disbanded Move Forward Party, has called for amending the Constitution to limit the constitutional court's power to overrule electoral processes, an idea that local media reports has gained support in Pheu Thai but will face stiff opposition from the military and monarchy. Figure I. Thailand at a Glance Source: CIA World Factbook, 2024, World Bank. Map, CRS. Political ivisons and Protests Thailand is deeply politically divided between the political establishment (a mix of the military, royalists, and senior bureaucrats) and those seeking more popular democracy- including young Thais seeking a democratic voice as well as less-affluent, traditionally disenfranchised rural citizens who tend to be Thaksin's base of support. Pita and the Move Forward Party garnered the support of Thailand's young, urban voters protesting the denial of their democratic choice, and their status as the primary opposition raises the possibility of future street protests and civil disobedience. Similarly, Pheu Thai's ruling coalition, which includes parties with very different political agendas, may struggle to govern effectively.

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