Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Southeast Asian Indochinese peninsula composed of 76 provinces. At 513,120 km2 (198,120 sq mi) and over 68 million people, Thailand is the world's 50th largest country by total area and the 21st-most-populous country. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, a special administrative area. Thailand is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Myanmar. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. Although nominally a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, the most recent coup in 2014 established a de facto military dictatorship.
The Thai people, who originally lived in southwestern China, migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of many centuries. The word Siam may have originated from Pali or Sanskrit श्याम or Mon ရာမည, probably the same root as Shan and Ahom. Chinese: 暹羅; pinyin: Xiānluó was the name for the northern kingdom centred on Sukhothai and Sawankhalok, but to the Thai themselves, the name of the country has always been Mueang Thai.
The Prime Minister of Thailand is the head of government of Thailand. The prime minister is also the chair of the Cabinet of Thailand. The post has existed since the Revolution of 1932, when the country became a constitutional monarchy.
The Thai Rak Thai Party was a Thai political party founded in 1998. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under its founder, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. During its brief existence, Thai Rak Thai won the three general elections it contested. Eight months after a military coup forced Thaksin to remain in exile, the party was dissolved on 30 May 2007 by the Constitutional Tribunal for violation of electoral laws, with 111 former party members banned from participating in politics for five years.
The Democrat Party is a Thai political party. The oldest party in Thailand, it was founded as a conservative and royalist party, and now upholds a conservative-liberal and classically liberal pro-market position.
The Communist Party of Thailand was a communist party in Thailand active from 1942 until the 1990s.
Thai Nation Party, or Chart Thai Party was a conservative political party in Thailand. It was dissolved by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on December 2, 2008, along with the People's Power Party and the Neutral Democratic Party, for having violated electoral laws in the Thai general election, 2007. Thereafter, most MPs founded the Chartthaipattana Party, which became the Thai Nation Party's successor.
Abhisit Vejjajiva is a Thai politician who was the 27th prime minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011. He is a former university lecturer at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Thammasat University, Oxford University and was the leader of the Democrat Party from 2005 until he resigned following the party's weak performance in the 2019 election. As leader of the second largest party in the House of Representatives, he was also leader of the opposition – a position he held from December 2008 until his party's en masse resignation from the House on 8 December 2013. That same month, he was formally charged with murder resulting from a crackdown on demonstrators in 2010 that killed 90 people.
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the National Assembly of Thailand, the legislative branch of the Thai government. The system of government of Thailand is that of a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. The system of the Thai legislative branch is modelled after the Westminster system. The House of Representatives has 500 members, all of which are democratically elected: 375 members were directly elected through single constituency elections, while the other 125 are elected through party-list proportional representation. The roles and powers of the House of Representatives were enshrined in the Constitution of 2017.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand provides the basis for the rule of law in Thailand.
The People's Power Party is a defunct Thai political party. The party leader was Somchai Wongsawat, the Party Secretary General was Surapong Suebwonglee, and the Party Spokesperson was Kuthep Saikrajarng. Most MPs of the party originally hailed from the Thai Rak Thai Party and thus the party was its de facto reincarnation with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as its "leader." The PPP had a populist platform and was strong in the North, Central, and Northeastern regions of Thailand. The party became the leader of the coalition government after the junta-government supported 2007 general election. PAD, the leading anti-Thaksin movement, vowed to oppose it after the party decided to launch the amendment of the 2007 Constitution.
Samak Sundaravej was a Thai politician who briefly served as the Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Defense in 2008, as well as the leader of the People's Power Party in 2008.
The National Assembly of Thailand is the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Thailand. It convenes in the Parliament House, Dusit District, Bangkok.
The Government of Thailand, or formally the Royal Thai Government (RTG), is the unitary government of the Kingdom of Thailand. The country emerged as a modern nation state after the foundation of the Chakri Dynasty and the city of Bangkok in 1782. The Revolution of 1932 brought an end to absolute monarchy and replaced it with a constitutional monarchy.
Beginning in 2008, there was worsening conflict between the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People's Power Party (PPP) governments of Prime Ministers Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat. It was a continuation of the 2005–2006 political crisis, when PAD protested against the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. PAD followers usually dressed in yellow, yellow being the royal color of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and were called "yellow shirts". National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) followers, known as supporters of the deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, dressed in red and were widely called "red shirts".
The Siamese revolution of 1932 or the Siamese coup d'état of 1932 was a crucial turning point in 20th-century Thai history. The revolution, in reality a coup d'état, was a nearly bloodless transition on 24 June 1932, which changed the system of government in Siam from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The "revolution" was brought about by a comparatively small group of military and civilians, who formed Siam's first political party, the Khana Ratsadon. It ended 150 years of absolutism under the Chakri Dynasty and almost 800 years of absolute rule of kings over Thai history. It was a product of global historical change as well as domestic social and political changes. It also resulted in the people of Siam being granted their first constitution.
General elections were held in Thailand on 3 July 2011 to elect the 24th House of Representatives.
Yingluck Shinawatra, nicknamed Pou, is a Thai businesswoman, politician and a member of the Pheu Thai Party who became the 28th Prime Minister of Thailand following the 2011 election. Yingluck was Thailand's first female Prime Minister and its youngest in over 60 years. She was removed from office on 7 May 2014 by a Constitutional Court decision.
