The March 24 vote comes after the ruling junta repeatedly postponed general elections after it overthrew an elected government in 2014.
Voters in Thailand are set to choose their next government on Sunday after five years of living under military rule.
"The rules have been written to maintain military supervision over Thai politics," Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, told CNBC's Sri Jegarajah on Friday. The election is set to be a contest between three main political fractions: A pro-military camp, an anti-military group and parties that are neutral or undecided about the side with which they would align.
That means Prayuth is likely to remain in office even if the party supporting him does not win big in the election. Assuming the current prime minister has the backing of all 250 senators, he will only need 126 supporters in the House to be take the helm again.If the retired general assumes the role without a clear mandate from voters and against the backdrop of overwhelming support for anti-military parties, Thailand could run into a constitutional crisis, the professor said.
Such meddling by the junta is likely if the largest anti-military party, Pheu Thai, is found to be to leading in the votes, he added. "Whoever wins, the shift towards economic populism is likely to continue, delaying reforms needed to raise productivity growth and deal with the worsening demographic outlook," they said.
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