Role for kings in Asia’s democracies
Role for kings in Asia’s democracies
As embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra digs in his heels against a strident street campaign to oust him, opposition leaders are turning to Thailand’s final arbiter.
Not the Constitutional Court, which batted away a petition to probe Mr. Thaksin’s alleged misdemeanors. The ballot box is also mistrusted: Opposition parties are boycotting Sunday’s parliamentary elections. Instead, protesters are turning to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s revered constitutional monarch, in the hopes he will urge Thaksin to step aside.
Thailand’s political crisis has thrown a spotlight on democratic rule in Asia’s other surviving monarchies. In Nepal, a 14-year experiment with multiparty democracy was suspended last year by its king, who is accused of seeking absolute powers. By contrast, Bhutan’s king has set a deadline of 2008 for the creation of an elected parliament, and his own abdication.
Observers say monarchs in Asia’s emerging democracies have provided a check against political extremes, though their presence may also slow the building of other constitutional checks and balances. But that downside may be unavoidable in the short term, while institutions slowly take root.
More: csmonitor.com