Pheu Thai Party

The Pheu Thai Party (PT or PTP; , ) is a major conservative populist political party in Thailand. It is the third incarnation of the Thai Rak Thai Party, a political party founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 1998. Like the previous incarnations, Pheu Thai is the main political vehicle for the Shinawatra family. It is the currently second largest party in the House of Representatives and has been in government as the majority leader in the ruling coalition since 2023.

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.

, the PTP has 66,833 members. The party is currently being led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, businesswoman and daughter of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The party tends to be more popular in the north and northeast of the country. It won 141 seats in the 2023 Thai general election, making it the party with the second largest number of seats in the Thai House of Representatives.

History

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. Yongyuth Wichaidit was elected as the party's leader.

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 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.

2023 general election

During the 2023 Thai general election, Pheu Thai repeated its position that it would not form a coalition with both 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 currently contains 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. On 22 August 2023, its candidate Srettha Thavisin was elected 30th Prime Minister after gaining enough votes from Parliament.

Political ideology

Similar to its predecessors, the Pheu Thai Party is a populist political party that appeals to the rural and urban poor. The party tends to be more popular among subsistence farmers and the rural working class mostly found in the northern and northeastern regions of Thailand. Leading up to the 2023 general elections, the party campaigned on economically populist policies including cash handouts (฿10,000 digital wallet), expanding healthcare coverage, and raising the minimum wage.

The party is mostly liberal on social issues due to its support for democracy, scrapping of military conscription, decriminalizing sex work, and legalizing same-sex marriage. It is conservative on reforming the lèse-majesté laws and opposes monarchy reforms.

The party is considered pro-business and economically liberal. Under the Yingluck administration (2011-2014), the party passed several cuts in corporate tax and considered reducing corporate income tax even further to boost innovation and business growth.

Policies

2023 manifesto

Economic policy

* Raising the minimum wage to ฿600 by 2027
* Raising Thailand's GDP
* Promote cultural and medical tourism
* Introduce a ฿10,000 'digital wallet' for Thais over 16
* Introduce free Wi-Fi in public parks
* Introduce a minimum monthly ฿25,000 salary for workers with a bachelor’s degree
* Introduce a monthly retirement fund of ฿3,000 to Thais aged over 60
* Decentralise public hospitals
* Upgrade water management
* Upgrade rail infrastructure
* Construct new rail infrastructure
* Expand Suvarnabhumi Airport
* Expand maternity benefits
* Improve working conditions

Social policy

* Keep the lèse-majesté laws
* Decentralise the central government
* Decentralise public education
* Allow elections for provincial governors
* Rewrite the constitution to only allow elected MPs to vote for a prime minister
* Introduce free HPV vaccinations
* Introduce free medical checkups for Hepatitis C
* Legalize same-sex marriage
* Replace military conscription with a voluntary system

Prime ministers

Election results

General elections

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration elections

Bangkok gubernatorial elections

Bangkok Metropolitan Council elections

District Council elections

References

External links

Official website

Thailand's July Election: Understanding the Outcome
Q&A with Catharin Dalpino (July 2011)

East Asia Forum: "The changing face of Thai populism"
(June 2013)

{{Authority control

2008 establishments in Thailand
Centre-right parties in Asia
Conservative parties in Thailand
Liberal conservative parties
Political parties established in 2008
Political parties in Thailand
Populist parties
Political career of Thaksin Shinawatra