A return to money politics not the same as democracy

All the so-called experts in this panel discussion seemed to come from the Thaksin side of the political aisle. They found more or less everything wrong with Prayut’s preparations for the election, but failed to see anything on the other side that might hinder the freeness and fairness of the vote. Will we see a panel discussion that looks at the other side of the coin? 
When Prayut does lift the political ban, billionaires will flood politics with billions of baht. How clean, free and fair will the election be when “money rules instead of people”? 
And what if the fugitives living in self-imposed exile interfere by pulling strings in some political parties? Or if some of the new parties are just their proxies? And is it not problematic that political parties seem to be established as family dynasties by the family members or close aides of the two fugitives? And what of foreign interference (and I don’t mean by the Russians)? The US doesn’t like foreign interference in its elections, so why should Thailand? 
Meanwhile can the vote be fair when media have already taken sides, ridiculing and demonising Prayut while praising the other side by printing sympathetic photos of the two fugitives, keeping them in the daily limelight, labelling them “ousted” instead of fugitives, and referring to their views as if they were legal participants in the election campaign? 
A Johnsen