Premiership of Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin's
Thai Rak Thai Party came to power through a
general election in 2001, where it won a near-majority in the
House of Representatives. As prime minister, Thaksin launched a platform of policies, popularly dubbed "
Thaksinomics", which focused on promoting domestic consumption and providing capital especially to the rural populace. By delivering on electoral promises, including
populist policies such as the
One Tambon One Product project and the
30-baht universal healthcare scheme, his government enjoyed high approval, especially as
the economy recovered from the effects of the
1997 Asian financial crisis. Thaksin became the first democratically elected prime minister to complete a four-year term in office, and Thai Rak Thai won a landslide victory in the
2005 general election. However, Thaksin's rule was also marked by controversy. He had adopted an authoritarian "CEO-style" approach in governing, centralising power and increasing intervention in the bureaucracy's operations. While the
1997 constitution had provided for greater government stability, Thaksin also used his influence to neutralise the independent bodies designed to serve as checks and balances against the government. He threatened critics and manipulated the media into carrying only positive commentary. Human rights in general deteriorated, with a "war on drugs" resulting in over 2,000
extrajudicial killings. Thaksin responded to the
South Thailand insurgency with a highly confrontational approach, resulting in marked increases in violence. Public opposition to Thaksin's government gained much momentum in January 2006, sparked by the
sale of Thaksin's family's holdings in
Shin Corporation to
Temasek Holdings. A group known as the
People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), led by media proprietor
Sondhi Limthongkul, began holding regular mass rallies, accusing Thaksin of corruption. As the country slid into a state of
political crisis, Thaksin dissolved the House of Representatives, and
a general election was held in April. However, opposition parties, led by the
Democrat Party, boycotted the election. The PAD continued its protests, and although Thai Rak Thai won the election, the results were nullified by the
Constitutional Court due to a change in arrangement of voting booths. A new election was scheduled for October, and Thaksin continued to serve as head of the
caretaker government as the country celebrated
King Bhumibol's diamond jubilee on 9 June 2006.
2006 coup d'état On 19 September 2006, the
Royal Thai Army under General
Sonthi Boonyaratglin staged a bloodless
coup d'état and overthrew the caretaker government. The coup was widely welcomed by the anti-Thaksin protesters, and the PAD dissolved itself. The coup leaders established a
military junta called the Council for Democratic Reform, later known as the
Council for National Security. It annulled the 1997 constitution, promulgated an
interim constitution and appointed an
interim government with former army commander General
Surayud Chulanont as prime minister. It also appointed a
National Legislative Assembly to serve the functions of parliament and a
Constitution Drafting Assembly to create a new constitution. The
new constitution was promulgated in August 2007 following
a referendum. As the new constitution came into effect,
a general election was held in December 2007. Thai Rak Thai and two coalition parties had earlier been dissolved as a result of a
ruling in May by the junta-appointed Constitutional Tribunal, which found them guilty of election fraud, and their party executives were barred from politics for five years. Thai Rak Thai's former members regrouped and contested the election as the
People's Power Party (PPP), with veteran politician
Samak Sundaravej as party leader. The PPP courted the votes of Thaksin's supporters, won the election with a near-majority, and formed government with Samak as prime minister. Living in exile since the coup, Thaksin returned to Thailand only in February 2008 after the PPP had come to power. In August, however, amid the PAD protests and his and his wife's court trials, Thaksin and his wife,
Potjaman, jumped bail and applied for asylum in the United Kingdom, which was denied. He was later found guilty of abuse of power in helping Potjaman buy land on Ratchadaphisek Road, and in October was sentenced
in absentia by the
Supreme Court to two years in prison. The PAD further escalated its protest in November, forcing the closure of both of Bangkok's international airports. Shortly after, on 2 December, the Constitutional Court dissolved the PPP and two other coalition parties for electoral fraud, ending Somchai's premiership. The opposition Democrat Party then formed a new coalition government, with
Abhisit Vejjajiva as prime minister.
Abhisit government and 2010 protests Abhisit presided over a six-party coalition government, which was formed through the support of
Newin Chidchob and his
Friends of Newin Group, who had broken away from the previous PPP-led coalition. By then, Thailand's economy was affected by the
2008 financial crisis and the ensuing
Great Recession. Abhisit responded to the crisis with various stimulus programmes, while also expanding on some of the populist policies initiated by Thaksin. Relatively early in Abhisit's premiership, the pro-Thaksin group the
United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) began staging anti-government protests. The UDD, also known as the "
Red Shirts" in contrast with the PAD's yellow, was formed following the 2006 coup and had previously protested against the military government and staged counter-rallies against the PAD in 2008. In April 2009, the UDD staged protests in
Pattaya, where they disrupted the
fourth East Asia Summit, and also in Bangkok, leading to
clashes with government forces. The UDD suspended most of their political activities throughout the rest of the year, but
regathered in March 2010 to call for new elections. The protesters later occupied a large area of Bangkok's central shopping district, blocking off areas from
Ratchaprasong Intersection to
Lumphini Park. Violent attacks, both against protesters and government units, escalated as the situation dragged on, while negotiations between the government and the protest leaders repeatedly failed. Around mid-May, in an attempt to remove the protesters, military forces performed a
crackdown on the protest, leading to violent confrontations and over ninety deaths. Arson attacks erupted around the protest site as well as several provincial centres, but the government soon took control of the situation. The protesters dispersed as UDD leaders surrendered.
Yingluck government and 2013–2014 crisis , during the early stages of the protest in November Abhisit dissolved the House of Representatives the following year, and
a general election was held on 3 July 2011. It was won by the Thaksin-aligned
Pheu Thai Party (created to replace the PPP in 2008), and
Yingluck Shinawatra, a younger sister of Thaksin's, became prime minister. Although the government initially struggled in its response to the widespread
flooding in 2011, the political scene remained mostly calm throughout 2012 and early 2013. Continuing on the populist platform, Yingluck's government delivered on election promises, including a controversial
rice-pledging scheme, which was later found to have lost the government hundreds of billions of baht. However, it was the government's push to pass an amnesty bill and amend the constitution in 2013 that sparked public outcry. Protesters, whose leadership would later call itself the
People's Democratic Reform Committee, demonstrated against the bill, which they perceived as being created to grant amnesty to Thaksin. Although the bill was voted down by the Senate, the protests turned towards an anti-government agenda, and the protesters moved to occupy several government offices, as well as the central shopping district, in a bid to create a "People's Council" to oversee reforms and remove Thaksin's political influence. Yingluck responded to the protests by dissolving the House of Representatives, and
a general election was held on 2 February 2014. The protesters moved to obstruct the election, forcing voting to be postponed at some polling stations. This later became the basis of the Constitutional Court's annulment of the election, since according to the constitution, it had to take place in one day. This left the country still without a working government, amid increasing violent attacks by unnamed factions. As the political stalemate continued, the Constitutional Court on 7 May ruled on a case concerning the transfer of Thawil Pliensri from his post as Secretary-general of the
National Security Council back in 2011. It found that this was done with conflict of interest, and ruled that Yingluck be removed from her role as caretaker prime minister, along with nine other cabinet members. Deputy Prime Minister
Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan was chosen to replace Yingluck as caretaker prime minister.
2014 coup d'état Amid the ongoing political crisis, the
Royal Thai Army under General
Prayut Chan-o-cha declared
martial law on 20 May 2014, citing the need to suppress violence and maintain peace and order. Talks were held between leaders of various factions, but after these failed, Prayut took power in
a coup d'état on 22 May. The
National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) was established as the ruling junta, and the constitution was again repealed. In contrast to the 2006 coup, the NCPO oversaw a more systemic suppression of opposition. Politicians and activists, as well as academics and journalists, were summoned; some were detained for "attitude adjustment".
An interim constitution was eventually promulgated on 22 July, followed by the creation of an appointed National Legislative Assembly, and the appointment of Prayut as prime minister on 25 August. Despite promising a road map for the return to democracy, the junta exercised considerable authoritarian power; political activities, especially criticism of the military, were banned, and the
lèse-majesté law was even more heavily enforced than before. After several drafts, a
new constitution was passed in
a referendum on 7 August 2016. It contained many provisions that allowed the military to assert its influence in politics. After repeated postponements,
elections took place on 24 March 2019.
2019 parliament and 2020 protests Several new parties emerged to contest the 2019 election, including the pro-Prayut
Palang Pracharath Party, and the liberal, anti-junta
Future Forward Party led by
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The constitution's provision that also included the junta-appointed Senate in the parliamentary vote for prime minister led to the Palang Pracharath–led coalition successfully installing Prayut as prime minister in June. Meanwhile, Future Forward, which had found success mobilizing support from young people and became the most vocal among the opposition, found itself the target of technicality-based petitions, and the Constitutional Court ruled in February 2020 that a loan the party received from Thanathorn was illegal, dissolving the party. The ruling was met by student protests in university campuses all over the country, which subsided due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The protests resumed in July and developed into a sustained movement against the military-dominated government and human rights violations, with several large demonstrations, some of which also included public criticisms of the monarchy. Several protest groups emerged, most prominently the Free People group, who demanded the resignation of the cabinet, dissolution of parliament, and drafting of a new constitution. On 3 August, two student groups publicly raised demands to reform the monarchy, breaking a long taboo of publicly criticising the monarchy. A week later, ten demands for monarchy reform were declared. A 19 September rally saw 20,000–100,000 protesters and has been described as an open challenge to
King Vajiralongkorn. A government decision to delay voting on a constitutional amendment in late September fuelled nearly unprecedented public republican sentiment. Following mass protests on 14 October, a "severe"
state of emergency was declared in
Bangkok during 15–22 October, citing the alleged blocking of a royal motorcade. Emergency powers were extended to the authorities on top of those already given by the Emergency Decree since March. Protests continued despite the ban, prompting a crackdown by police on 16 October using
water cannons. In November, the Parliament voted to pass two constitutional amendment bills, but their content effectively shut down the protesters' demands of abolishing the Senate and reformation of the monarchy. Clashes between the protesters and the police and royalists became more prevalent, and resulted in many injuries. The protesters were mostly students and young people without an overall leader. Apart from the aforementioned political demands, some rallies were held by
LGBTQ groups who called for
gender equality, as well as student groups who campaigned for reforming the country's education system. Government responses included filing criminal charges using the Emergency Decree; arbitrary detention and police intimidation; delaying tactics; the deployment of
military information warfare units; media censorship; the mobilisation of pro-government and royalist groups who have accused the protesters of receiving support from foreign governments or
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as part of a global conspiracy against Thailand; and the deployment of thousands of police at protests. The government ordered university chancellors to prevent students from demanding reforms to the monarchy and to identify student protest leaders. Protests since October, when the King had returned to the country from Germany, resulted in the deployment of the military, riot police, and mass arrests. In November 2021, The
Constitutional Court ruled that demands for reform of the Thai monarchy abused the rights and freedoms and harmed the state’s security and ordered an end to all movements, declaring them unconstitutional. It has been likened to
judicial coup. In September 2022, Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha could stay in office. The opposition had challenged him, because the new constitution limits the term for prime minister as a total period of eight years in office. The Constitutional Court's ruling was that his term in office began in April 2017, simultaneously with the new constitution, although Prayut had ruled as the leader of the government since the 2014 military coup.
2023 election and Srettha government In May 2023, Thailand’s reformist opposition, the progressive
Move Forward Party (MFP) and the populist
Pheu Thai Party, won the
general election, meaning the royalist-military parties that supported Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha lost power. Initially, the opposition parties attempted to form a government together with MFP's
Pita Limjaroenrat as prime ministerial candidate. This failed despite a majority in the lower house, as under the 2017 constitution the junta-appointed Senate also voted for the prime minister along with the elected lower house. Pheu Thai then dissolved its coalition with MFP and allied instead with the
royalist-military parties, which allowed the new coalition to garner votes in the military-dominated Senate. On 22 August 2023, its candidate
Srettha Thavisin became Thailand’s new prime minister, while the Pheu Thai party’s billionaire figurehead Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand after years in self-imposed exile. ==Royal succession==