The Neutral Democratic Party (PMT; Thai: พรรคมัชฌิมาธิปไตย) was a short-lived populist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Thailand founded in 2007 by Somsak Thepsuthin, a former

Thai Rak Thai Party The Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT; , , ; "Thais Love Thais Party") was a list of political parties in Thailand, Thai political party founded in 1998. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under its founder, Prime Minister of Thailand, Prime Mini ...

cabinet minister. The party had a similar

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

line to the Thai Rak Thai and was expected to secure votes from Thai Rak Thai supporters. The party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court in 2008 and party members subsequently moved to the

Bhumjaithai Party Bhumjaithai Party (BJT; , ) is a major conservative populist political party in Thailand. It was founded on 5 November 2008, in anticipation of the 2 December 2008 Constitutional Court ruling that dissolved its ''de facto'' predecessor, the Ne ...

. The party was planned to merge with the For the Motherland Party and later on the Royalist People's Party, however, both plans were annulled. On October 15, 2007, Prachai Liewpairat, formerly Royalist People's Party Secretary-general and financier, was elected as the party's leader, and Anongwan Thepsuthin, Somsak's wife, was elected as the party's secretary-general. This move has raised many eyebrows in Thailand's political landscape. The birth of a new party, with a woman in charge of the second most important position, had caused a stir. For some advocates of women's rights, Thailand's long struggle to break male dominance in politics was thought to have partly been enlivened. As they note, in the second Thaksin government of 2005, only one of the 36 cabinet ministers and one governor out of 76 were women, while only 10 percent of the members of Parliament and Senate were women. The Neutral Democratic Party participated in the 2007 general election and won 5.36% of the vote (7 of 480 seats), coming in sixth. In January 2008, the Neutral Democratic Party joined the winning party of the election, PPP and five other parties to form a coalition. After the party's disappointing election result in the 2007 Election, the party leader, Prachai Liewpairat resigned. On 25 February 2008, party members gathered together for the party annual meeting in Sukhothai province, hometown of Somsak Thepsuthin. They elected the new leader, secretary-general, deputy leaders, spokesperson and the new executive board. Former secretary general and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Anongwan Thepsuthin became the new leader and Chai-Nat province MP Porntiwa Nakasai became the new secretary general. This the party the first party in Thailand to have women as both the leader and secretary general. Along with the coalition members People Power Party (PPP) and

Thai Nation Party Thai Nation Party, or Chart Thai Party (, ) was a Conservatism, 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 (Thailand), People's Power P ...

, the Neutral Democratic Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court on December 2, 2008, with party executives banned from politics for five years. The non-executive MPs of the parties were given 60 days to reorganize under new parties. The non-executive MPs from the Neutral Democratic Party defected to the Bhumjai Thai Party. They and the former members of the Friends of Newin Group, a faction of the PPP, decided to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

led by

Abhisit Vejjajiva Abhisit Vejjajiva (; , , ; born 3 August 1964) is a Thai politician who was the 27th 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 t ...

, leader of the Democrat Party.AFP
Thai court dissolves ruling party
2 December 2008

References

External links

Matchima
{{Thai political parties Banned political parties in Thailand Centrist parties in Thailand Defunct political parties in Thailand Political parties established in 2006 Political parties disestablished in 2008 2006 establishments in Thailand