The recently released data by the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) on the amount of donation each political party in Thailand received over the past year is a clear indication of how and which criteria of people are supporting each political party in Thailand.
Under Thai law any tax paying citizen of the country could opt to pay a certain amount of their taxes to pay to the political party they want and despite a small base of tax payers in Thailand, the donations reflected the kind of support base each political party has. This comes as the country is heading closer to a general election as the term of current government ends on March 23, 2023.
Thailand’s taxpayers have a mechanism to donate to their political party of choice and taxpayers have the option to mark on their tax forms whether they wish to donate up to 500 Baht of their taxes to a political party of their choice.
Taxpayers pay nothing in additional taxes; the amount they choose to donate is deducted from the tax they would otherwise have sent directly to the state.
Given that this is the only opportunity where citizens are directly invited by the government to donate to a political party, it’s worth analyzing the data.
Click here to read the full piece at Thai Enquirer.
Cover image credits: Move Forward Party
Ken Mathis Lohatepanont 
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