Democracy in Thailand, Interrupted

These are dark days in Thailand, where an election on Sunday was disrupted by protesters whose demands for a suspension of democracy could lead to greater chaos. The country’s constitutional monarchy has faced coups and street protests in the past, but it has been a model of relative stability and development in Southeast Asia, a region known for its autocratic and brutal governments. As an American treaty ally, Thailand has been critically important in helping to reduce regional tensions and provided balance to the growing military assertiveness of China by championing trade and economic integration partly through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On Sunday, protesters disrupted the vote by blocking the distribution of ballot boxes to polling places in about 11 percent of the country’s electoral districts. Because Thailand’s Constitution requires that 95 percent of parliamentary seats be filled before a new government can be formed, the disruption means the country will remain in limbo for months as election authorities try to conduct elections in those districts where protesters prevented a vote from taking place. A gun battle between protesters and government supporters left seven people injured on Saturday, a day before the elections.