Thailand has dissolved its parliament, ahead of what is expected to be a fiercely contested general election scheduled for early May.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s new United Thai Nation party will be challenged mainly by the Pheu Thai party, led by former PM Thaksin Shinawatra’s daughter Paetongtarn.
Mr Thaksin, a billionaire, was deposed by a military coup in 2006.
Paetongtarn, 36, has led Mr Prayuth in opinion polls for months.
A date for the election has not been set, but it must take place within 60 days of dissolution.
But campaigning by dozens of parties is already underway. Bangkok’s pavements are disappearing behind a blizzard of party posters making all kinds of promises to the voters.
In the past, judicial rulings or military coups have prevented three Thaksin-backed governments, including one led by his sister Yingluck, from completing their term.
Mr Prayut, a retired general, has been in power since leading a coup against Ms Yingluck’s government.
Mr Thaksin has been in exile for 15 years, avoiding a list of criminal charges, even as many of his lieutenants are now banned from politics.
Yet he is still there, hovering over this election like a ghost, his daughter being the latest Shinawatra family member to front the party.
Speaking on Friday at an event to introduce Pheu Thai’s candidates, Ms Paetongtarn said she was confident of winning the election by a landslide.
After the last coup, the military resolved to finish the Thaksin problem once and for all by rewriting the constitution to ensure his party could not take power. They appointed 250 senators, most of who were presumed still to be loyal to Generals Prayuth and Prawit Wongsuwan, the men who led the last coup.
This being Thailand, no one can rule out another extra-parliamentary move against the party; not a coup this time, but perhaps another party dissolution by the reliably conservative courts.
Bbc/Adebukola Aluko
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