Formation and opposition (2008–2011) The PPP was dissolved by the
Constitutional Court of Thailand on 2 December 2008. On 3 December 2008, the majority of the former PPP MPs defected to the Pheu Thai Party. In a PTP general assembly, the first executive commission was elected on 7 December 2008. Candidates for the party's leader were:
Yongyuth Wichaidit,
Apiwan Wiriyachai, former Vice President of the
House of Representatives, former health minister
Chalerm Yubamrung and former industry minister
Mingkwan Saengsuwan. In a December 2008 parliamentary session, MPs of five PPP coalition parties decided to endorse
Abhisit Vejjajiva as the next prime minister and themselves forming a
Democrat-led coalition. The PTP campaigned for their endorsement by the PPP-coalition parties. However, Abhisit had gained their support for the premiership. After that, the party called for a national unity government in which all parties would be involved, with
Sanoh Thienthong of the
Pracharaj Party as the new premier. This proposal was rejected by the defecting coalition parties and the Democrat Party. On 11 December, Worrawat Eua-apinyakul, then MP for
Phrae from PTP, suggested that the party should push for a house dissolution and general elections, with the hope of depriving the prospective coalition of a parliamentary majority. However, The President of the House of Representatives;
Chai Chidchob spoke against the plan. On 15 December 2008, the party elected Pracha Promnok as the party's candidate for prime minister and has since been in opposition to prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's
coalition government. As an opposition, the party received a rating of 3.75 out of 10 by a majority of respondents in a nationwide survey conducted on 24 and 25 December 2010, by
Bangkok University. In early May 2011,
Charupong Ruangsuwan was named the new Secretary General of the party. Following the discovery of illegal timber by Thai authorities, during an August 2014 search at Charupong's son's
Mae Hong Son Province resort for buried war weapons and other illegal items, the media reported that both Charupong and his son were no longer present in Thailand.
In government (2011–2014) In the
2011 general election, the Pheu Thai Party contested for the first time since its foundation. On 16 May, Thaksin's youngest sister
Yingluck Shinawatra was nominated head of PTP's
party-list proportional representation and contender of prime minister Abhisit. One of her main issues in the campaign was national reconciliation. The election was expected to be a neck-and-neck contest between Pheu Thai and the ruling Democrats. Unexpectedly, the party won 265 of 500 seats in the House of Representatives on 3 July. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva acknowledged Pheu Thai's success in the election, and congratulated Yingluck Shinawatra as Thailand's first
female prime minister. Despite its absolute majority, the winning party announced that it would form a coalition government with five minor parties. On 5 August, Yingluck was elected prime minister with 296 votes in favour. The election was approved, and Yingluck was formally appointed by the king on 8 August.
2014 coup 2019 general election and opposition 2023 general election and Srettha government (2023–2024) During the 2023 Thai general election, Pheu Thai repeated its position that it would not form a coalition with either Palang Pracharat and United Thai Nation due to their involvement in the 2014 coup. Following the 2023 election, the
Move Forward party leader and candidate, Pita Limjaoenrat, was denied the position of Prime Minister by Parliament. The coalition was then dissolved and replaced by a Pheu Thai led coalition without Move Forward. On 7 August, they formed a new coalition to include Bhumjaithai, which won the third largest amount of MPs in the election and on 10 August, the Chart Pattana Kla party joined the coalition with 2 MPs. On 12 August, Pheu Thai unofficially expanded its coalition again to include the pro-junta parties of Palang Pracharat and United Thai Nation, which both participated or supported the 2014 coup that ousted Pheu Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, increasing the amount of MPs in the coalition to 315 out of the 500 MPs in Parliament. The move was widely criticized as it broke their election promise to not work with parties linked to the junta. The coalition contained in order of most MPs: Pheu Thai at 141 MPs, Bhumjaithai at 71, Palang Pracharat at 40, United Thai Nation at 36, Chart Pattana Kla at 2; with Thai Liberal, New Democracy, Plung Sungkom Mai and Thongtee Thai all having one. In May 2024, 40 military-appointed senators submitted a case accepted by the Constitutional Court requesting the removal of Srettha and
Pichit Chuenban under Section 170 (4) and (5) of the Constitution, which concerns the ethics of cabinet ministers. The case was in response to Srettha's appointment of Pichit, who had previously served time in jail for attempting to bribe Supreme Court officials, as a minister of the Prime Minister's Office. Pichit resigned on 21 May. On 14 August, the
constitutional court dismissed Srettha for gross ethics violations. Srettha is the fourth Thai premier in 16 years to be removed by the courts. Her nomination was approved by the House of Representatives on 16 August after no alternatives were named by the other parties in the ruling coalition, making her the youngest person and the second woman to become Prime Minister of Thailand. Her premiership was plagued by the return Thaksin, including a vote of no-confidence by the opposition, alleging that she has allowed her father to control the Thai government and does not have her own autonomy to run the country – Paetongtarn survived this and remained in position. In 2025, tensions on
disputed areas of the Cambodian–Thai border escalated to
clashes, the political fallout from which would lead to the fall of the Paetongtarn cabinet. A phone call between Paetongtarn and
Hun Sen, former prime minister of Cambodia and longtime friend of Thaksin, in which she referred to him as "uncle" and referred to a Thai military commander as part of the "opposing side"
was leaked by Hun Sen. These remarks drew widespread condemnation in Thailand, leading to petitions for Paetongtarn's dismissal, and was cited by the Bhumjaithai Party as a reason for withdrawing from her cabinet, precipitating the
2025 Thai political crisis. Paetongtarn would be suspended by the Constitutional Court in July, and removed in August. In the ensuing competition to form a new government, the
People's Party, a successor of the Move Forward Party, acted as kingmaker and backed Bhumjaithai over Pheu Thai in a
confidence and supply deal, returning Pheu Thai to the opposition. == Political ideology ==