Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
5-2025
Abstract
Research in Western Democracies suggests voting has substantive impacts on how one feels about democracy and state institutions. Voting for winners leads to positive feelings while voting for losers has the opposite effect. How, though, do voters interpret electoral results in a system prone to authoritarian intervention? Thailand's 2023 election offers a unique opportunity to examine how voting in a hybrid regime can impact voter opinion. Using a pre- and postelection survey, we demonstrate that, like elections in democracies, an election in a hybrid regime can have a significant impact on voter opinions. When pro-democracy voters win an election in a hybrid regime, the win does boost some support for state institutions. On the other hand, the losing pro-authoritarian voters turned against democracy and expressed reduced support for some state institutions. By contrast, we see an absence of the winner–loser gap regarding some state institutions designed to support authoritarian rule.
Keywords
Democracy, elections, electoral winners and losers, voter opinion, Thailand
Discipline
Asian Studies | Political Science | Politics and Social Change
Research Areas
Political Science
Areas of Excellence
Growth in Asia
Publication
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
Volume
44
Issue
2
First Page
245
Last Page
269
ISSN
1868-1034
Identifier
10.1177/18681034251341319
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Citation
RICKS, Jacob, & HICKEN, Allen.(2025). Voting for winners and losers in a hybrid regime: How Thailand's 2023 election shaped voter opinion. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 44(2), 245-269.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4208
Copyright Owner and License
Author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/18681034251341319