The Social Action Party (, ) was a former

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, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

History

The Social Action Party was formed by the more liberal members of the Democrat Party in 1974 under the leadership of

Kukrit Pramoj Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj (, , ; 20 April 1911 – 9 October 1995) was a Thai politician, author, scholar and professor. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand between 1973 and 1974. He was the thirteenth Prime Minister o ...

. After Kukrit resigned the office of the party leader in December 1985, the former minister of foreign affairs and deputy party leader, Siddhi Savetsila, led the party. Internal conflict during the 1986 parliamentary election resulted in a significant loss for the party. Controversy arose as rumor spread that General Arthit Kamlang-ek was secretly backing the party. By May 1986, with financial support from big businesses, a faction of the party split off with Boontheng Thongsawasdi to form the United Democracy Party, which proved to be unsuccessful. Corruption scandals continued to devastate the party. In the fall of 1990, when Prime Minister

Chatichai Choonhavan Chatichai Choonhavan (; , ; 5 April 1920 – 6 May 1998) was a Thai army officer, diplomat and politician. From 1986 to 1991, he was the chairman of the Thai Nation Party and served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from August 1988 until the 1 ...

threatened to expel the party from his government coalition, founder Kukrit was asked to return briefly to replace Siddhi Savetsila. Partly because Chatichai had previously served Kukrit as foreign minister, Chatichai ultimately decided not to expel the party. In December 1990, along with the Democratic Party, the Social Action Party withdrew entirely from Chatichai's government coalition, though it later rejoined

Suchinda Kraprayoon Suchinda Kraprayoon (, ; 6 August 193310 June 2025) was a Thai army general and politician who was Prime Minister of Thailand for several weeks in 1992. As the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army (1990–1992), Suchinda led the 1991 T ...

's government in April 1992. It left the pro-military coaliliton in June 1992. After splitting into two factions as a result of a power struggle in 1999, the party once again withdrew from the government led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Chuan Leekpai Chuan Leekpai MPCh MVM ThChW (, , ; ; born 28 July 1938) is a Thai politician who served two terms as the prime minister of Thailand, from 1992 to 1995, and from 1997 to 2001. He is also the former president of the National Assembly of Tha ...

, with 17 Parliament members withdrawing from the ruling coalition. In 2000, many of the members, including former leader Suwit Khunkitti, left Social Action for the

Thai Rak Thai 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 ...

party.

2001–2018

By the year 2001, the Social Action Party had lost much of the political support it had back in the 1970s. The 2001 election resulted in the party winning only one seat in parliament. In 2003, the party was disbanded. The party was revived in 2008 as Suwit returned. He was a member of the

Cabinet of Thailand The cabinet of Thailand (formally, the Council of Ministers of Thailand; ; is a body composed of thirty-five of the most senior members of the government of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Cabinet (government), cabinet is the primary organ of the ...

under Prime Minister

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 ...

's coalition government. In the

2011 Thai general election General elections were held in Thailand on 3 July 2011 to elect the 24th House of Representatives. The protestors of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) or " Red Shirts" who occupied downtown Bangkok in April and May 20 ...

, the Social Action Party won 0.3% of party-list votes and no seats. The Social Action Party was dissolved in 2018 due to an order of the

Election Commission of Thailand The Election Commission (, ) is an independent government agency and the sole election management body of Thailand. It oversees government elections (parliamentary elections and local elections) as well as referendums throughout the Kingdom o ...

Ideology

The Social Action Party advocated pro-free-enterprise fiscal policies.

Leader

* Mom Rajawongse

(1974–1985) * Air Chief Marshal Siddhi Savetsila (1985–1990) * M.R. Kukrit Pramoj (again, shortly in 1990) * Montri Pongpanich (1990–1998) * Boonphan Kaewattana (1998–1999) * Suwit Khunkitti (1999–2000) * Payung Nopsuwan (2000–2003) * Jetsada Tantibunchachai (2003–2004) * Attapol Chainansmith (2004–2007) * Tongpool Deepai (2008–2018)

General election results

References

{{Thai political parties Defunct political parties in Thailand Political parties established in 1974 1974 establishments in Thailand Conservative parties in Thailand Liberal conservative parties 2018 disestablishments in Thailand Political parties disestablished in 2018