Thai PM dissolves the legislature and orders elections

• A statement in the official Royal Gazette published on Monday announced the dissolution
• The EC will confirm the date of the poll later, with May 7 or 14 tipped as the most likely
• The election is the second since the 2014 coup and the first since the country was rocked by massive youth-led pro-democracy protests in Bangkok in 2020

On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha dissolved the nation's legislature, calling for general elections in May as the former coup leader tries to maintain his support from the military. The daughter of the billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose shadow still hangs over the kingdom's political scene despite spending more than ten years in exile, is running against the unpopular former army chief Prayut, who took office in a coup in 2014.

The main opposition Pheu Thai party, led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, is polling well, but the party will find it challenging to win the presidency under Thailand's 2017 constitution, which was drafted by the junta. The dissolution was announced in a statement that appeared in the official Royal Gazette on Monday. The Electoral Commission will determine the date of the election later; May 7 or 14 are seen to be the most likely dates.

The election is the first after the nation was shaken by significant youth-led pro-democracy protesters in Bangkok in 2020 and the second since the coup in 2014. Unofficial campaigning has been going on for weeks, with issues like growing living expenses and the kingdom's slowly returning to normal after the plague dominating the conversation.

The 68-year-old Prayut has shown a durability that is uncommon in Thai politics, solidifying his control in a contentious election in 2019. Yet in a poll released on Sunday asking voters to choose a candidate for prime minister, Prayut came in third with just over 15% of the vote, much below the 38 percent of the front-runner Paetongtarn. Pheu Thai received about 50% of the vote in the same 2,000-person National Institute of Development Administration survey, with Prayut's United Thai Nation party receiving about 12% of the vote.

In order to avoid a recurrence of 2019, when they won the majority of seats but were unable to form a government, Pheu Thai has stated that they are aiming for a significant victory to stop the military establishment from blocking their path to power. A prime minister is anticipated to be named by parliament in July after the Electoral Commission has certified the results. The Prime Minister is chosen by the 250 senators and 500 elected lower house MPs who were all nominated by the military under the 2017 constitution, which was crafted by the army.

At a rally on Friday, Paetongtarn told, "I have a strong hope that we can form the government for sure and that's why we talk about the landslide in our campaigns since the landslide will give us the power to create the government."

The election would be "most important in my lifetime," according to political expert Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University. If the kingdom "breaks out of an entrenched lengthy rut that extends back two decades," he claimed, will depend on it.

A coalition of two or more military-affiliated parties, including as Prayut's United Thai Nation and the ruling Palang Pracharath Party, is conceivable if Pheu Thai fails to win by a landslide. Moreover, two of Pheu Thai's predecessor parties were previously dissolved by Thailand's Constitutional Court in 2006 and 2008.