Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a population of more than 65 million. The king is revered and exerts strong informal influence. The interim prime minister, appointed by military leaders of the September coup, who called themselves the Council for National Security CNS , continued to govern together with a cabinet consisting mostly of technocrats.
A royal command on January 1 convened a Constitutional Drafting Assembly, whose members were chosen by the CNS, to draft a new constitution. On August 19, a majority of voters approved the new constitution in a referendum that observers generally considered free and fair. On December 23, the interim government held multiparty elections for the lower house of Parliament in which the People's Power Party, led by Samak Sundaravej, won a plurality of seats.
The election process was generally viewed as free and fair, but there were widespread allegations of vote buying. The interim civilian authorities appointed by the September coup leaders generally maintained effective control of the security forces, although the military continued to play a role in maintaining internal security.
The interim constitution in force until August 24 did not provide citizens the right to change their government; however, it established a process to draft a new constitution that restored this right.
Security forces continued at times to use excessive force against criminal suspects and also committed or were connected to extrajudicial, arbitrary, and unlawful killings.
