Thailand elections: Move Forward looks to make history

BBC News:

There could only be one place for Thailand’s youngest and most progressive party to celebrate its astonishing success in the election.

Move Forward and its supporters held their victory rally next to the art deco edifice known as Democracy Monument.

Situated right in the middle of the grandest boulevard running through Bangkok’s historic royal quarter, it has long been a symbol of the country’s frustrated democratic hopes, and the difficult relationship between those hopes and the exalted status of the monarchy.

That relationship, once an unmentionable topic, is now on the agenda of the winning party. As is amending the lese majeste or 112 law, forbidding the insult of the monarchy, under which dozens of young protesters who often rallied at this same spot have been charged and jailed.

Lorries clad in the party’s trademark orange circled the monument, its leaders waving at cheering supporters, many wearing orange ribbons in their hair and on their wrists.

“We are so excited and happy,” said Wiwan Sirivasaree, 35, and Narunphas Kornasavakun, 36, two women who stayed up all night to watch the results come in. “We have waited four years for this, after what happened last time.”