Thai King’s rebuke of sister increases tensions before vote

Bloomberg

Even for a country where coup attempts, street protests and political intrigue are the norm, February 8 will go down as one of the most dramatic days in Thai history.
It started around 9:15 am, when allies of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra —a tycoon who has lived in exile for more than a decade after repeated clashes with royalists — said Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya had agreed to stand as prime minister. The move by King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s sister shocked a nation where top royals are officially treated with semi-divine status and protected by strict lese-majeste laws that shield them from criticism.
Then some 13 hours later, the king released a late-night statement, known as a royal command, saying Ubolratana’s candidacy was “gravely inappropriate” and a violation of the constitution. He called the monarchy “the center that glues the hearts of the Thai people together,” and said both “the monarch and the royal family members are above politics.”
The fast-moving events have jolted the Thai political landscape ahead of a March 24 election meant to restore democracy, increasing the risk of heightened political tension in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy. They also raise a host of questions about the future of Thaksin and his allies, who have won every election since 2001 only to be thrown out by the courts or military.
“We are in new territory,” said Kevin Hewison, an emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has written about Thai politics for decades. “These events are probably not over. There will be fallout. But, because the royal family is usually secretive, we may not hear as much as we’d want.”