Bangkok sources have reported that more than 30 new Thai political parties submitted names and logos on the opening day of party registration in Bangkok today, an early step in the junta ruled kingdom's halting return to democracy. Earlier Thailand has been under army rule since a 2014 putsch toppled an elected government and installed the country's most autocratic regime in a generation.
Currently the generals have banned all political activity and repeatedly postponed a promised return to democracy. Meanwhile officials told in an early sign of enthusiasm for the vote, dozens of new parties applied for registration at the Election Commission (EC), under names like "Siam Democrat Party" and "Thai Unity Party.
Further analysts say the ruling junta is determined to curb Pheu Thai's influence in the next poll and has rewritten a charter that hampers larger parties and shrinks the clout of elected politicians. The military regime has yet to lift its ban on political organizing or protests of any kind and even if held as promised, the 2019 vote will not restore the level of democracy Thailand enjoyed before the coup.
