ABSTRACT
The council for national security took full advantage of the legislature at its disposal to provide Thailand with the legal means to prevent or, indeed, respond (at least institutionally) to an emergency. In response to the role of the media in the crisis of 2005, a law on electronic crime was promulgated in June 2007, which, in addition to the usual computer crimes, covered any attack on the security of the kingdom, punishable under the penal code. The Democrat Party believed for a while that it had regained the upper hand: it won 20 of the 29 seats that reopened after the disqualifications for fraud, and one of its leaders, MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, won the governorship of Bangkok. The opening of an investigation into the 2010 military intervention and the vote of an amendment redefining the role of the constitutional court revived tensions in June 2012.
