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After Thailand's April 2006 elections were declared invalid by the Constitutional Court, it was decided that new elections would be held on 15 October 2006. Due to delays in the nomination of a new election committee the election were likely to be moved to November, but then cancelled indefinitely after the military's overthrow of the Thai government.
The April elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties (the Democrat Party, the Mahachon Party, and Chart Thai Party). The results of the April elections, in which the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party won by a landslide, were disqualified by the Constitutional Court due to the placement of voting booths.
On 30 May, the Cabinet endorsed an Election Commission proposal to hold a new round of elections on 15 October 2006. The new election date allowed politicians 9 days time (by 8 June) to switch parties. The Thai constitution requires politicians to maintain their party membership for 90 days before being eligible to register as election candidates. [1] The election date was affirmed by the signing of the royal decree by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on July 20, 2006. [2]
The Constitutional Court and Opposition parties pressured the Election Commission to resign due to the disqualification of the April election. However, Commission head Vasana Puemlarp and the two other remaining commissioners refused to resign. [3] The Criminal Court later jailed the three Commissioners who refused to resign, forcing the appointment of a new set of Commissioners. [4] [5]
Rumors were rampant prior to the election that many MPs from the ruling Thai Rak Thai would defect. [6] Former TRT party-list MPs Likhit Dhiravegin and Sarit Santimethanedol left to establish the Phalang Phaendin party ("Strength of the Land"), claiming that 40 TRT Wang Nam Yen defectors would follow them. [7] However, as of 5 June, no other MPs defected. Wang Nam Yom faction member Banyin Tangpakorn was quoted as saying that no more than 5 members wanted to defect. [8]
Sanoh Thienthong, head of the TRT's powerful rebel Wang Nam Yen faction, had resigned from the TRT in February, along with his wife, Uraiwan (then Culture Minister). [9] He later established the Pracharaj Party . [10] Joining Sanoh in resigning from the TRT was party-list MP Winai Sompong. [11] Sora-at Klinpratoom, another influential Wang Nam Yen member, resigned from the ICT Ministry, but did not resign from the TRT party. Outspoken businessman and founder of Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI) Prachai Leophai-ratana also joined the Pracharaj Party as its secretary-general. [12] Pramual Rujanasseri, Boonthueng Pholphanit and Chucheep Harnsawat were appointed as deputy party leaders. [13]
Former Deputy Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa (nicknamed "Kan Yao" for his heroism during the pro-democracy protests of 1973) had resigned from the TRT during the height of anti-Thaksin protests in March 2006.
As of May 2006, members of the Wang Bua Ban, Wang Phayanak, and Ban Rim Nam factions of the TRT party declared that they would not defect. Phayao MP Aruni Chamnanya was quoted as saying "I am not a politician who sells myself by party hopping." [8]
Tun Jintavej and Chatchawan Chompudaeng, members of the Mahachon Party, defected to the Chart Thai Party. Anek Laothammathat, the former Mahachon Party leader, joined the new Maharaj Party .
Former Chart Thai MP for Ratchaburi, Vijai Wattanaprasit, moved to the Pracharaj Party. [14] Former Chat Thai MP for Chanthaburi Province Khomkhai Pollabutr moved to the Democrat Party. [14]
Mahachon Party leader Sanan Kachornprasart claimed that former Democrat secretary-general Pradit Pattaraprasit had decided to join Mahachon and contest the election. However, Pradit, who had earlier resigned from the Democrat party, denied Sanan's claim. [15]
The New Aspiration Party, led by Chingchai Mongcoltam, planned to merge with Maharaj. [16] Outgoing Senators Kraisak Choonhavan and Karun Sai-ngam also joined Maharaj. Outgoing Senator Pichet Pattanachot joined the Democrat Party and plans to contest Nakhon Ratchasima's Constituency 1. [17]
The political affiliation of former Deputy Prime Minister and TRT co-founder Purachai Piumsombun was the target of much political rumor. Purachai had earlier retired from politics, but his popularity led many to believe that he would re-enter politics under a different party. As Deputy Prime Minister, Purachai had led a controversial "social order" campaign that made him highly popular among many Bangkokians.
The People's Alliance for Democracy, which had led many anti-Thaksin protests from 2005 to 2006, established a new party, the Mass Party . However, they vowed not to field candidates for election. "If we field MP candidates, we will be trapped in vicious circles of money politics," said Somkiat Pongpaibun, a PAD leader. [16] Somkiat was joined by former Palang Dharma Party leader Chaiwat Sinsuwong and the Campaign for Popular Democracy's Pipop Thongchai.
Khon Kaen caretaker Senator Rabiebrat Pongpanit co-founded the Thai Women party . [18]
On 29 April, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva promised an "agenda for people", with education as the main focus. He also vowed not to privatize basic utilities like electricity and water supply and also to nationalize those enterprises which had previously been privatized. [19] However, he later backtracked and promised not to renationalize the oil and gas company PTT. [20] He also promised that core Thai Rak Thai populist policies like the 30-baht universal healthcare scheme, the Village Fund and the SML scheme would not be cancelled but improved. He later promised that Thaksin's popular 30-baht universal healthcare scheme would be abolished immediately, and replaced with a system where access to medical services would be totally free. [21] He also said that all future Democrat MPs will have to declare their assets and possible involvement in any private companies (under Thai law, only those who take a government position have to declare their assets). [22] In addition, MPs, Government ministers, and their families would also be required to disclose benefits they received from business connections. [23] He also proposed a 10 million THB limit to the amount that any individual could contribute to a political party in one year. [23] He also proposed to reduce the number of votes necessary to force a vote of no confidence to just one-tenth of the House. [23]
Abhisit also promised many populist policies, [24] including:
On the Democrat Party's 60th Anniversary dinner, Abhisit raised over THB 200 Million in funds from attendants. He outlined several energy policies [25] including:
On 13 July 2006, facing escalating violence in the South, Abhisit promised to solve the insurgency by making the problems in the deep South a public agenda. [26]
In late July 2006, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared on two television advertisements. [27] The first tried to portray Abhisit as a family man, while the second suggested that people cope with the high cost of living by cutting down on energy consumption. Two additional advertisements were scheduled to air in August, the third focusing on free education, and the fourth on free health care. Prime Minister Thaksin commended the spots, and Abhisit claimed spots were well received. However, pollsters at ABAC Poll and the BU Poll Centre doubted that the spots would impress grassroots voters.
The Thai Rak Thai party promised to expand Bangkok's mass transit network with ten new electric train routes covering 300 km. [28] The new network would have a flat cost of just 15 THB per ride. The TRT also proposed building home units along the new lines. The new rail networks would be built through direct government investment, rather than through private concessions.
A nationwide poll conducted in mid-July found that 49% of respondents would vote for Thai Rak Thai, while 42.5% preferred one of the oppisiton parties. 84.3% of those surveyed said they would vote in the poll; of those, 29.2% said they would not vote for any political party, marking instead the "no vote" box, indicating abstention. [29]
A Bangkok poll in conducted mid-August found that 38% of respondents would vote for Thai Rak Thai, with 24% voting for the Democrats, 10% voting for Chart Thai, and 6% for other parties. [30]
In the 30 July Bangkok Metropolitan Administration council elections, the Democrats won 35 out of 57 seats in the Bangkok city council, with 18 seats going to TRT. [31] The Democrats also swept 176 out of 255 district council seats in the Bangkok district council elections held on the same day, while Thai Rak Thai won 71 seats and independent candidates won eight seats.
On 19 September 2006, less than a month before the scheduled elections, members of the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is the country's first coup in 15 years, [32] though the practice used to be commonplace, with 17 having occurred between 1932 and 1991. [33]
Junta leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin announced the abrogation of the constitution, declared martial law, and dissolved Cabinet, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court. He promised that a civilian Prime Minister would be appointed within two weeks, [33] but that a new constitution would be drafted before holding new elections a year in the future. [34]
Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, and was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006.
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 royalist party, and now upholds a conservative and pro-market position.
General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. The result was a landslide victory for the Thai Rak Thai party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which won 377 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives, with its former coalition partner, the Chart Thai Party taking 25 seats. The opposition Democrat Party of Thailand won only 96 seats and the newly formed Mahachon Party took two seats.
Abhisit Vejjajiva is a Thai politician who was the prime minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011. He 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 2005 to 2008 and again after his premiership until his party's en masse resignation from the House on 8 December 2013. Abhisit is the last prime minister in the last 15 years to not come from the military or be related to the Shinawatra family.
General elections were held in Thailand in April 2006. Elections for the lower house of the Thai National Assembly, the House of Representatives, were held on 2 April 2006 and elections for the upper house, the Senate, were held on 19 April 2006. The Constitutional Court later invalidated the House of Representatives election results and ordered a new round of voting.
Somkid Jatusripitak is a Thai economist, business theorist, and politician.
In 2005 and 2006, a series of events occurred in Thailand as a result of public anger with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that was supported by Sondhi Limthongkul and his coalitions. It led a military coup that concluded in the overthrow of the Thai Rak Thai government in September 2006, the flight of Thaksin after the court verdict, and the establishment of the junta government led by Surayud Chulanont, a favourite of privy councillor and senior statesman Prem Tinsulanonda.
In Thailand politics, the Finland Plot, Finland Plan, Finland Strategy, Finland Conspiracy or Finland Declaration are names of a controversial conspiracy theory espoused by Sondhi Limthongkul and supporters affiliated with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in 2006 describing a plot allegedly developed by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and former left-wing student leaders to overthrow the former Thai monarch, take control of the nation, and establish a communist state. The plot allegedly originated in Finland.
General elections were held in Thailand on 23 December 2007. They were the first elections after the Council for National Security, a military junta, had overthrown Thailand's elected government and abrogated the constitution on 19 September 2006. The junta had canceled general elections scheduled for October 2006 and promised new elections within 12 months. The Constitutional Tribunal then outlawed the Thai Rak Thai party, the largest political party in Thailand, and banned TRT executives from contesting in the elections for five years. After their political party had been dissolved, the former TRT members regrouped under the band of People's Power Party (PPP) led by Samak Sundaravej, a seasoned politician. Following its formation, the junta issued a classified order to suppress the activities of the PPP and to frame it for lèse majesté. The order was leaked to the public, leading to a complaint towards the Election Commission from the PPP. However, the Election Commission dismissed the complaint on the grounds that the Council for National Security (CNS) had granted itself immunity in the 2007 Constitution of Thailand.
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, Buddhist Era 2550 (2007) was the constitution of Thailand which was in effect from 2007 to 2014.
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.
Puea Pandin Party is a Thai political party founded on September 11, 2007, by more than 200 politicians. Its most notable members included Thaksin's former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Suranand Vejjajiva and Preecha Laohaphongchana.
The Pheu Thai Party is the third incarnation of a Thai political party founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Pheu Thai Party was founded on 20 September 2007, as an anticipated replacement for the People's Power Party (PPP), which the Constitutional Court of Thailand dissolved less than three months later after finding party members guilty of electoral fraud. The People's Power Party was itself a replacement for Thaksin's original Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT), dissolved by the Court in May 2007 for violation of electoral laws. As of July 2019, Pheu Thai had 22,771 members. The party tends to be more popular in the north and east of the country.
Bhumjaithai Party was founded on 5 November 2008, in anticipation of the 2 December 2008 Constitutional Court of Thailand ruling that dissolved its "de facto predecessor", the Neutral Democratic Party, along with the People's Power Party (PPP), and the Thai Nation Party. After the dissolutions, former members of the Neutral Democratic Party and former members of the PPP faction, the Friends of Newin Group defected to this party.
The Friends of Newin Group was a faction of MPs in the People's Power Party led by Newin Chidchob, former Thai Rak Thai cabinet minister, in the House of Representatives of Thailand. After the 2008 political crisis and Constitutional Court decision, these MPs defected from the People's Power Party (PPP) to the Bhumjaithai Party.
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Jatuporn Prompan is a Thai politician and activist. He is one of the core leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the "Red Shirts", and a former Member of Parliament of the Pheu Thai Party. In July 2017, he was given a one-year prison sentence for defamation.