'Everything is already decided': Thailand's army is set to cement power with an election

BANGKOK - Wearing identical white nylon track jackets, seemingly impervious to the swampy afternoon heat, the half-dozen candidates breezed through a sprawling covered market on the outskirts of Bangkok and waved to a smattering of shoppers.

Days before Thailand's first national elections in eight years, party workers raced ahead to distribute long-stemmed roses to shopkeepers. The merchants then politely handed the flowers to the candidates - members of Palang Pracharat, a brand-new party representing Thailand's ruling military junta - with brief bows and smiles for the accompanying cameras.

Casting a sideways glance from behind bagfuls of onions and green chilies, shopkeeper Harit Wichachai was unimpressed.

"It seems they have the election in their pocket," Wichachai, a 29-year-old from rural northern Thailand, said of the pro-military party.