The emergence of "new" political parties this week brought neither hope nor excitement to the country's deeply divided and troubled political landscape. Most new parties are just old wine in different bottles, offering tastes of political agendas that veer between the toxic and the mundane. They are the same choices that Thailand has had for decades. The country is crying out for political young blood with fresh mandates.
A regrouping of old political faces, these so-called new parties merely represent the status quo. As the Election Commission kicked off the first day of a one-month process to register new parties yesterday, more than 40 groups formally enrolled themselves into the system ahead of a general election planned for February next year. Many others are expected to follow.
The most worrying trend is that many of the new parties want to help the military regime, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), prolong the power it seized from an elected government.
Several of them, including a reincarnated Palang Dharma Party, share one common desire: To back the regime leader and Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to lead the next government following the poll.
That option is made possible by a provision in the new constitution sponsored by the junta and passed in a strictly controlled referendum. It allows MPs to propose an outsider to become a non-elected prime minister.
An "outsider" prime minister would not only make the country's administrative branch undemocratic but also lay down the red carpet for the rise of a totalitarian regime. During the first five years following the poll, all the 250 members of the Senate will be handpicked by the NCPO -- another new undemocratic condition introduced by the charter.
If Gen Prayut becomes a non-elected premier, he will have control of both the administrative and legislative branches, taking the country back to the authoritarian rule that we have experienced over the past three years and nine months -- a system that is not accountable, less transparent and repressive.
Some of the new political parties seem to be desperate choices -- groups who want to have their name associated with the current government's Pracharath or Thai Niyom schemes. It demonstrates their lack of vision and innovation. While others merely offer cliched policy agendas, from anti-corruption to reform, without elaborating on how they can deliver them.
If the country's decade-long political conflict is associated with the two main parties, Pheu Thai and the Democrats, the emergence of the pro-military parties will only rub salt into the wound. Over the past years, the military has become part of the conflict and the divide.
What Thailand needs is new political parties run by new faces -- a younger generation of people who respect democratic values and the rule of law, who can think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas and fresh approaches to politics and who can challenge the status quo.
One beacon of hope is the possibility that a new party is to be established and headed by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a 39-year-old billionaire, with credentials in social activism and advocacy for the poor and the powerless. A nephew of former transport minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Mr Thanathorn runs the Thai Summit Group.
Prachachat newspaper on Wednesday reported that his new party will be joined by academics and pro-democracy activists including Thammasat University law professor Piyabutr Saengkanokkul.
Thailand must paint a new political landscape, one not dominated by the same old faces of politicians and military figures.
Many new pro-military parties will not bring about progress to the country. New parties like the one to be established by Mr Thanathorn are needed to bring unconventional choices to Thai voters, many of whom must be thirsty for radical progressive changes.
