TOKYO -- Thailand will work to eradicate corruption and narrow the political divides that led to the coup last May before returning to civilian rule, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Feb. 9.
Prayuth said in an interview with The Nikkei that pork-barrel spending by populist governments skewed past election results. He cited former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's rice subsidies, which resulted in a 600 billion baht ($18 billion) loss for the government, as an example of vote-buying tactics.
The new constitution, which is being drafted by a committee appointed by the military government, will likely prohibit populist election promises and impose heavy penalties on corruption.
"After the 2006 coup, an interim government simply replaced (then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's) administration and held elections," he said. "None of the existing problems were solved."
Election reforms were attempted by the military after a 2006 coup. They failed to eliminate the influence of the Thaksin faction, which had a strong following among rural farmers and the poor. The pro-Thaksin camp won both the 2007 and 2011 general elections in landslides.