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Published on October 29, 2007

 That's not surprising given that the Election Commission has come up with a lengthy list of "Don'ts". One is that political-party leaders must not speak of policies anywhere other than at venues stipulated by the commission.

Under these strict rules, how then are voters to know about their policies - something that should count for something when they go to the polling stations. How can we decide who to vote for if we don't know what they intend to do if they become the new government?

However, economics academic Pairoj Wongwipanont sees it differently.

At a Krungthep Turakij seminar last week, he said the economic policies touted by political parties ahead of any election were just the words of salesmen.

"You don't even need to bother trying to read between the lines," he said, smirking.

He also noted that during 1976-1996, Thailand's economy expanded over 7 per cent on average, even though many governments of all flavours had run the country. "There was certainly no continuity in economic policies," he said. He is convinced that if anything influences elections, it is certainly not economic promises from political parties.

Last week the Election Commission faced heavy criticism for the tougher rules, and agreed that a discussion would take place today to review some of them.

Hopefully, political parties will again be allowed to put up billboards of any size to promote their candidates in different constituencies. This is a must, given that voters will not be familiar with the faces of some new candidates. Without studying the faces of the new candidates beaming down from huge billboards, they might tend to vote only for the familiar ones.

I vote also for unlimited exposure through media. Though Pairoj said economic policies do not drive elections, I harbour a secret hope that they will, starting from this election. Economic policies seemed to influence the previous two elections when the Thai Rak Thai Party won the majority of votes.

As Pairoj said at the seminar, given that the party had no record of poor governance, Thai Rak Thai would soon have become a major political institution and others would have no choice but stand in opposition, fighting with different policies as happens in the US and the UK.

Now that Thai Rak Thai is no more, others are focusing on populism - once its trademark. If the party were still around, it would probably say: "Hey guys, be more innovative - we have sold those policies already."

achara_d@nationgroup.com