Somsak Thepsuthin (; born 13 January 1955) is a Thai politician and Minister of Public Health under Srettha Thavisin's cabinet. He served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the second cabinet of Prime Minister

Prayut Chan-o-cha Prayut Chan-o-cha (sometimes spelled Prayuth Chan-ocha; , ; born 21 March 1954) is a former Thai politician, army officer and dictator who became the 29th prime minister of Thailand after seizing power in the 2014 Thai coup d'état, 2014 coup ...

Life and education

Somsak was born and raised in

Sukhothai Province Sukhothai (, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''); it lies in lower northern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phrae, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Tak, and Lampang. Sukhothai can be translated as 'dawn of ...

and later attended

Amnuay Silpa School Amnuay Silpa School (; ) is a coeducational private school in Bangkok, Thailand. It teaches kindergarten, primary and secondary levels. The school was founded in 1926, formerly as an all-boy school in the early years. Chitra Dansuputra was the co ...

in Bangkok. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering from

King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL or KMIT Ladkrabang for short) is a research and educational institution in Thailand. It is situated in Lat Krabang District, Bangkok, approximately east of the city center. The universit ...

and a master's degree in political science (public administration) from

Thammasat University Thammasat University (TU; ; , ) is a public university, public research university in Thailand with campuses in the Tha Phra Chan area of Bangkok, Rangsit, Pattaya and Lampang Province. , Thammasat University has over 39,000 students enrolled in ...

. He was elected Member of Parliament representing Sukhothai Province's first constituency for the first time in 1983. A member of the

Social Action Party The Social Action Party (, ) was a former political party in Thailand. History The Social Action Party was formed by the more liberal members of the Democrat Party in 1974 under the leadership of Kukrit Pramoj. After Kukrit resigned the offic ...

, he was returned in every election until 2001.

Political Career

He served as deputy minister of public health in

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 cabinet from April to May 1992 (during Black May). From September 1992 to September 1993 he served as deputy minister of transport and communication under

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 ...

and again from September 1996 to October 1997 under

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh Chavalit Yongchaiyudh (, , ; born 15 May 1932), also known as "Big Jiew" (, , ), is a Thai politician and retired army officer, he served as the prime minister of Thailand from 1996 to 1997. From 1986 to 1990, he was the Commander-in-chief of ...

. Subsequently, he was shortly Minister of Public Health under the same prime minister until the government's resignation in the following month. In the second government of Chuan Leekpai, Somsak was the Minister of Industry from November 1997 to October 1998. Having switched to

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra (, ; born 26 July 1949) is a Thai businessman and politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. Since 2009 he has also been a citizen of Montenegro. Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator A ...

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 ...

(TRT), Somsak was elected to the House of Representatives on the TRT party-list in the 2001 general election, while his wife Anongwan Thepsuthin succeeded him as MP for the first constituency of Sukhothai Province. In Thaksin's government that came into office in September 2001, Somsak first served as Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister, before switching to the Ministry of Industry in October 2002 and the Ministry of Agriculture in November 2003. In Thaksin's second government, Somsak held the office of Minister of Tourism and Sports from March to August 2005 and subsequently Minister of Labour until the 19 September 2006 ''coup d'état''. Being a member of the TRT party's executive committee, Somsak was barred from holding political office for five years upon the dissolution of the party by the Constitutional Court. Nevertheless, he founded the ''Matchima'' ("neutral") group, that first merged into Sanoh Thienthong Pracharaj Party before separating and becoming the

Neutral Democratic Party The Neutral Democratic Party (PMT; Thai: พรรคมัชฌิมาธิปไตย) was a short-lived populist political party in Thailand founded in 2007 by Somsak Thepsuthin, a former Thai Rak Thai Party cabinet minister. The part ...

(NDP) in October 2007. As Somsak was officially barred, his wife Anongwan became the party's secretary-general. The party won seven constituency seats in the December 2007 general election and joined the government coalition led by People's Power Party (PPP) and

Samak Sundaravej Samak Sundaravej (, , ; 13 June 1935 – 24 November 2009) was a Thai politician who briefly served as the Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Defence in 2008, as well as the leader of the People's Power Party in 2008. Early life and fa ...

. In Samak's government and that of his successor

Somchai Wongsawat Somchai Wongsawat (, ; born 31 August 1947) is a Thai politician who briefly served as the prime minister of Thailand in 2008. He is a former executive member of the People's Power Party (PPP) whose political rights were disenfranchised by ...

, Anongwan Thepsuthin served as Minister of Natural Resources and Environment from February to December 2008. The Constitutional Court dissolved the Neutral Democratic Party together with its coalition partners 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 ...

for election fraud on 2 December 2008.

References

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