The Night of the Barking Dogs

Well, it's election time! And I'm not talking about the Iowa caucuses or John Howard's loss. I'm talking about the Thai elections scheduled for December 23. Under Thai tradition, that makes Dec 22 the "night of the barking dogs." That's the night when party bosses go from house to house and bribe the voters (and arouse the dogs). The coup leaders passed a law that actually makes this practice illegal, but nobody expects enforcement of the new law.

These elections will be the first elections under the new constitution and after the recent coup. In most countries, such an election would be historic. But not in Thailand. They've had 17 constitutions in less than 100 years, and about the same number of coups. What would be unsual in Thailand would be an election without a new constitution or coup. If it weren't for the King, Thailand would have no source of stability. And he won't live much longer.

Right now, it looks like the People's Power Party will win. They are the reconstituted version of exiled prime minister Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party. They have promised to allow Thaksin to return and also allow about 100 TRT politicians to run for office. The Army has promised to stage another coup if the PPP wins. So it should be interesting. The King has yet to weigh in on the issue, but I have a hard time believing he would support Thaksin's return.