But a victory that was once expected to be a walk in the park for the general now does not seem so certain.
An aerobics class is under way as a sober-suited Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha walks briskly into central Lumphini Park, accompanied by city officials and a pack of journalists.
The instructor gives up on her routine as the class of mostly older men and women peels away to greet the general who led the military coup against Thailand’s elected government in 2014, promising to bring peace and stability to a bitterly divided country.
Prayuth obliges them with photos and manages a smile and a wiggle as an elderly man urges him to join in.
“I’m here to work,” he tells Al Jazeera gruffly, explaining why he has opted to wear a suit rather than gym clothes and trainers.
Thailand’s long-delayed election is weighted in favour of the military and is taking place in a still-restrictive environment, but the keenly fought campaign has given a platform to politicians who have long been denied a voice under the military regime’s repressive rule, reawakening Thai hopes for democracy.
For Chris Baker, a historian and political analyst who has lived in Thailand for many years, a poll that was expected to be a walk in the park for Prayuth has suddenly become more exciting.
“We have no idea what might come out at the end of the week,” he said at a forum organised by Thailand’s Foreign Correspondents Club on Tuesday.
Prayuth hopes Sunday’s election will be the moment he transforms himself from a military ruler into a civilian leader, on the back of a constitution and an electoral system that makes it difficult for Thailand’s major political parties to win a large majority and form a government and ensures the military’s continued influence.
Under the new legislation, all future governments are expected to follow a 20-year national development plan that critics say locks Thailand into an anti-democratic future.
