Hello and welcome to The Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

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But first...

It's a move that's astonished the whole of Thailand.

Princess Ubo Rotana Mahidol, the older sister of the country's king,

has joined the race to be the next Prime Minister.

Her decision to stand has upended an election scheduled for March 24th.

Thailand has been under military rule since a coup in 2014,

when power was wrested from the powerful Shinawatra family

that dominated Thai politics for years. The princess has registered for the Thai-Raksa-chart

party, which is allied to the Shinawatras. She's pitting herself against the military generals.

Standing against the princess will be a challenge in a country where criticism of the royal

family is essentially illegal. Formerly, the royals do not hold political power. Miranda Johnson

is our Southeast Asia correspondent. Over the course of the 70-year reign of the last king,

who's the current king, King Vajira Longhorn's father, we saw one of the last king, who's the current king, King Vajira Longcorn's father.

We saw, while the royals don't officially have any kind of political role, the network monarchy

has powerful influence and also the monarchy is revered by ordinary ties.

So it is a very powerful institution in the country.

Okay.

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