Does Thaksin still matter? Thailand’s young voters look to the future, not the past.

Asia’s original populist: In 2014, hundreds of thousands flooded the streets, expressing their anger towards Thaksin and the rest of the Shinawatra family. – EPA

ONE man has dominated Thai politics for well over twenty years; and it is not the current monarch, King Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun.

Separately, the hapless, but essentially well-meaning military leader Prayuth Chan-ocha looks set to be a mere footnote in the kingdom’s contemporary history.