The real winners and losers of Thailand's political drama

BANGKOK -- The surreal denouement of Thailand's protracted election process was a spectacle worthy of a multi-part Netflix series. Within just 12 hours on Tuesday, after months of false starts and failed hopes, a new prime minister emerged from an improbable coalition of once-bitter rivals and a disgraced former leader returned from years of self-imposed exile. Thai voters, having handed a clear victory to the progressive Move Forward party in the May 14 polls, could be forgiven for feeling betrayed as their choice to lead the country was pushed out of the ruling coalition.

In the aftermath, veteran observers might be tempted to dismiss signs of popular discontent as a short-lived annoyance that will evaporate in the Thai propensity to gloss over aberrations, adopt a new normal and carry on. But this time, something has changed in Thai popular sentiment -- the aftermath of Tuesday's political theatrics showed a pervasive sense of betrayal and growing contempt for wheeler-dealers.