As election strategies go, third time lucky might sound a bit glib. But it’s difficult to identify any clear missteps by Thailand’s youth-led progressive movement, which over just seven years and two elections now boasts the Southeast Asian nation’s most popular political party.

“Our vision is to reform politics, the economy, and reduce social inequality,” Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of Thailand’s legislative opposition as head of the reformist People’s Party, tells TIME. “The core problems are the same as 20 years ago. We have to bring full democracy to our country.”

The circumstances that have so far thwarted the progressive movement’s bid for power could politely be described as byzantine (or the plain-spoken might just say crooked). In 2019, the progenitor Future Forward Party

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