Thai Politics

The politics of Thailand are conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, whereby the prime minister is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.

Following the coup d'état of 22 May 2014 revoking the 2007 constitution, a military organization called National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) had taken over administration. The chief of NCPO abolished the national assembly and assumed the responsibilities of the legislative branch. Under the martial law enforced throughout the kingdom, military courts have been tasked to be responsible for some cases that are normally under the civilian courts. However, the court system, including the Constitutional Court, still remains in existence, even without the constitution. The NCPO was formally dissolved following the swearing-in of the new cabinet on 16 July 2019.

The Kingdom of Siam (now known as Thailand) was ruled as an absolute monarchy. After the Siamese revolution in 1932, led by westernized bureaucrats and a tradition-oriented military, Siam officially became a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister as the head of government. The first written constitution was issued. Politics became the arena of fighting factions between old and new elites, bureaucrats, and generals. Coups occurred from time to time, often bringing the country under the rule of military juntas. To date, Thailand has had 20 charters and constitutions, reflecting a high degree of political instability. After successful coups, military regimes have abrogated existing constitutions and promulgated interim charters. Negotiations between politicians, bureaucrats, influence peddlers, corporate leaders and army officers have become a driving force in the restoration of temporary political stability.

Politics of constitutions

Before the 1932 revolution, the kingdom had no written constitution. The monarch was the originator of all laws and the head of the government. In 1932 the first written constitution was issued, expected to be the most important guideline of the kingdom. Constitutions have traditionally been considered to be the "symbol of democracy" in Thailand, despite their many abrogations and changes. However, when political disputes took place among the elites, the first military coup occurred in 1933 and the first official constitution was removed, to be replaced by a new one.

All of Thailand's charters and constitutions have recognized a unified kingdom with a constitutional monarchy, but with widely differing balances of power between the branches of government. Most Thai governments have stipulated parliamentary systems. Several, however, also called for dictatorships, e.g., the 1959 constitution. Both unicameral and bicameral parliaments have been used, and members of parliament have been both elected and appointed. The direct powers of the monarch have also varied considerably.

Thailand's "popular constitution", called the "people's constitution" was successfully promulgated in 1997 after the 1992 Bloody May incident. Publicly, constitutional devices have often charged as the root of political turmoil. The 1997 constitution was considered a landmark for the degree of public participation involved in its drafting, as well as the democratic nature of its articles. It prescribed a bicameral legislature, both houses of which are elected. Many civil rights were explicitly acknowledged, and measures were established to increase the stability of elected governments. New organs supervising administrative power such as the Constitutional Court, the Administrative Court, and the Ombudsman also emerged for the first time. These organs later became a threat to politicians, particularly when the financial dealings of Thaksin Shinawatra, one of the most popular politicians in Thai history, became an issue.

Following an army-led coup on 19 September 2006, the 1997 constitution was abrogated. The junta ruled the country by martial law and executive decree for weeks, until it published an interim constitution on 1 October 2006. The interim constitution allowed the junta to appoint a prime minister, a legislature, and a committee to draft a permanent constitution. Local and municipal elections were held as usual. In 2007 the new constitution was eventually issued, said to be a "junta supported constitution" by many critics. The 2007 constitution was again abolished in another military takeover on 22 May 2014. According to the 2017 constitution, Thailand's entire political system is under the control of the army, through the appointed Senate but also via an array of military-dominated oversight bodies

The King of Thailand has little direct power under the constitution, but is a symbol of national identity and unity. King Bhumibol—on the throne from 1946 to 2016—commanded enormous popular respect and moral authority, which he used on occasion to resolve political crises that threatened national stability.

Democracy post-1932

Thailand was a kingdom under an absolute monarch for over seven centuries before 1932.

As a result of imperialism, the kings began minor reforms. The king was the president of the government, consulted with his councillors, mainly his relatives. Though significant reforms had occurred in Rama V's reign, the kingdom still had no national assembly. Men of royal blood held positions in the government as ministers. The situation became tense after the World War I. An economic crisis bedeviled the country. A young generation of students and intellectuals studying in Europe began criticizing the crown's government as backward, corrupt, and ineffective. On 24 June 1932, troops in Bangkok seized government buildings and some key ministers. The 1932 revolution took place. Its leaders were both bureaucrats and young military officers, urging national reforms, including the first written constitution. After negotiation with the king, Rama VII, and the kingdom's elite, changes took place, ending absolute rule by the king. The king remained the titular head of state, but the constitutional government ruled the country with the prime minister at its head. A general election was held for the creation of the first national assembly. The election was the first in which women were permitted to vote.

The period 1932–1973 has been described as semi-democratic.

Since becoming a Western-style constitutional democratic monarchy in 1932, most of the time the country has been ruled by military governments. The disputes and struggles among the elites old and new, civilians, politicians, and military have occurred regularly since 1932. The first military coup staged by the 1932 revolutionary, military wing itself, occurred in 1933. The military became a tool for political stability. Political freedom, freedom of speech, and basic human rights were strongly compromised in the first three-quarters of the 20th century.

Due to the pressure of outside events during the Vietnam War, the politics of the kingdom became even more tense. The military government, with the support of the US, tightened its control over the country's politics, while intellectuals and leftist students strongly opposed the junta.

The Communist Party of Thailand staged armed struggle in the countryside in the 1960s. Communist and radical ideas attracted a handful of intellectuals. The communist movement was seen as congruent with the independence movements in other Indochinese countries, waging war against the US. In response, the military junta tightened its grip.

Student-led uprisings in October 1973 led to the collapse of the military dictatorship. The media received more freedom to criticize politicians and governments, while revolutionary and socialist movements became more apparent. The new civilian government officially shut US bases amid the fear of communist victory in the Indochinese countries in 1975. In 1976, Admiral Sa-ngad Chaloryu, the armed forces commander, staged a massacre and coup that brought hard-line anti-communists to power and reversed these reforms.

At the end of the Indochina War, investment by foreign businesses helped alleviate poor infrastructure and social problems. The middle classes constituted only 10 per cent of the 60 million inhabitants. They enjoyed wealth and increasing freedom, leaving the majority poor in the rural areas and slums.

The system of rule fluctuated between unstable civilian governments and interludes of military takeover. During democratic periods, the middle class in the cities ignored the poor in the rural areas. The media accepted bribes. To corrupt bureaucrats and politicians became well-accepted business practice.

Every time a coup was staged, scapegoats or excuses were found to justify it. Eventually, the ensuing junta government would hand the government back to elected officials. As a result, there have been 18 coups and 18 constitutions in the history of Thai politics.

From 1932, bureaucrats, generals, and businessmen have run most of the political parties. While the grassroots are always the target of the political parties, no grassroots party has ever led the country. Money seems to be the major factor in gaining power in the country.

The Black May uprising, in 1992, lead to more reform when promulgating the 1997 constitution aiming to create checks and balance of powers between strengthened government, separately elected senators, and anti-corruption agencies. Administrative courts, constitutional courts, and election-control committees were established to strengthen the checks and balance of politics.

The 2007 constitution, following Thaksin's ousting, was particularly designed to be tighter in its control of corruptions and conflicts of interests while reducing the authority of the government. It was repealed in the 22 May 2014 coup d'état.

Government

Thailand categorizes itself as a constitutional monarchy, the king has little direct power under the constitution and exercises power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers, and the Courts in accordance with the 2017 constitution. The king, as the head of state, is the symbol of national identity and unity.

The head of government is the prime minister. The Prime Minister is elected by both houses of the National Assembly. Under section 151 of the constitution, members of the House of Representative constituting at least one-fifth of the existing total Members of the house have the right to submit a vote of no-confidence of a single Minister or the Council of Ministers en masse.

The National Assembly of Thailand, as the bicameral legislative branch of the government, consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is the lower house of the National Assembly and consists of 500 members sitting for four years; 350 members are elected from a constituency basis and 150 members are elected from a party-list proportional representation. The Senate consists of 250 senators that hold a five-year term. Under section 107 of the 2017 constitution, senators are selected from professional and social groups, having the knowledge, expertise, and experience in various areas of society.

Corruption

Corruption has plagued Thailand for much of its modern history, with both the private and government sectors partaking in various forms of corruption. Corruption is embedded within Thai society due to its history and culture, where patronage plays a huge role and those with connections thrive. Research shows that the cost of bureaucratic corruption alone in 2018 amounted up to a 100 billion Thai baht, with state officials at various levels embezzling funds from large and small governmental projects. As of 2018, Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International has ranked Thailand as the 99th least corrupt.

A year after the 2014 Thai coup d'état, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) declared a war on corruption, a common mission by all military dictatorships following the numerous coup in Thailand's history. However, the junta was also entangled with various embarrassing corruption scandals itself.

Foreign relations

Thailand is an active participant in international and regional organizations, and maintains a particularly close and longstanding security relationship with the United States. Thailand's foreign policy includes support for ASEAN and it has developed increasingly close ties with the organisation's other members, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam. Thailand also attends the annual meetings held by the foreign and economic ministers of the ASEAN nations, including the inaugural East Asia Summit that was held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005.

Regional cooperation is progressing for Thailand in economic, trade, banking, political, and cultural matters. In 2003, Thailand served as an APEC host and formulated the meeting's theme: "A World of Differences: Partnership for the Future". Supachai Panitchpakdi, the former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, served as Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) between 2002 and 2005.

Political parties and elections

Voting Rights

The issue of voting rights in Thailand is addressed under Section 95 of the 2017 constitution.
A person must have the following qualifications in order to vote:
# Must be of Thai nationality, those that have acquired citizenship through naturalisation must hold the Thai nationality for at least 5 years.
# Must not be less than 18 years of age on the day of election.
# Must have their name listed in the household register in the constituency for at least 90 days on the date of election.

Results of 2019 Thai General Election

The 2019 General Election was held on 24 March 2019; it was the first election held in accordance with the new 2017 constitution and also the first election held since the 2014 coup. The election selected 500 members of the House of Representatives, in which 350 were elected from a constituency basis and 150 were elected from a party-list proportional representation. The National Assembly convened on 5 June to elect the new prime minister, in which the incumbent prime minister and coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha won.

Political history of the democratic era

Transition to democracy after 1932

Following the Siamese revolution of 1932, which imposed constitutional limits on the monarchy, Thai politics were dominated for around fifty years by a military and bureaucratic elite, with the support of businessmen and entrepreneurs. Changes of government were affected primarily by a long series of mostly bloodless coups.

The popular uprising of 14 October 1973 resulted in the end of the ruling military dictatorship of anti-communist Thanom Kittikachorn. Notably, it highlighted the growing influence of Thai university students in politics. Only three years later, left-wing movements were cracked down by the extremely violent suppression from right wings and ultra royalists in the 6 October 1976 massacre event, following by a coup to strengthen the monarchy and military status in the Cold War period, including increase of lèse-majesté law jail terms.

Beginning with a brief experiment in democracy during the mid-1980s, led by Prem Tinsulanonda, civilian democratic political institutions slowly gained greater authority, culminating in 1988 when Chatichai Choonhavan,leader of the Chart Thai Party, assumed office as the country's first democratically elected prime minister in more than a decade. Three years later, another bloodless coup, 1991 Thai coup d'état ended his term and the military junta National Peace Keeping Council was formed.

Shortly thereafter, the royally appointed Anand Panyarachun, a businessman and former diplomat, headed a largely civilian interim government and promised to hold elections in the near future. However, following inconclusive March 1992 Thai general election, former army commander Suchinda Kraprayoon was appointed prime minister. Thais, more than 200,000 people led by Chamlong Srimuang reacted to the appointment by demanding an end to military influence in government, but demonstrations were violently suppressed by the military in Black May events. An estimated 52 to 100 protesters were killed, 696 were injured, and 175 had "disappeared", it had not been concluded until today. Shortly, Suchinda regime received sweeping amnesty, signed by Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Domestic and international reactions to the violence forced Suchinda to resign, and the nation once again turned to Anand, who was appointed interim prime minister until new elections were held in September 1992. In the September 1992 elections, political parties that had opposed the military in May 1992 won by a narrow majority and Chuan Leekpai, a leader of the Democrat Party, became prime minister at the head of a five-party coalition.

Following the defection of a coalition partner, Chuan dissolved parliament in May 1995, and the Chart Thai Party won the largest number of parliamentary seats in the subsequent election. Party leader Banharn Silpa-archa became prime minister, but held the office for little more than a year. Following elections held in November 1996, Chavalit Youngchaiyudh formed a coalition government and became prime minister. However, the onset of the Asian financial crisis caused a loss of confidence in the Chavalit government and forced him to hand over power to Chuan Leekpai in November 1997.

Chuan formed a coalition government based on the themes of economic crisis management. The 1997 constitution was introduced as the first constitution to be drafted by a popularly elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly, hence was popularly called the ''People's Constitution''. The 1997 constitution created a bicameral legislature. For the first time in Thai history, both houses were directly elected.

2001–2006, Thaksin Shinawatra

In the January 2001 elections, telecommunications multimillionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, who had relations with the 1990s junta, and his Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) won an overwhelming victory on a populist platform of economic growth and development.

Thaksin also marginally escaped (8:7) a guilty verdict in the Constitutional Court, where he was charged by the Board of Anti-Corruption of hiding shares worth hundreds of millions of baht. A decade later, a Supreme Court ruling in another case accepted the possibility of bribery in the Constitutional Court case.

After absorbing several smaller parties, TRT gained an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament, controlling 296 of 500 seats. In a cabinet reshuffle of October 2002, the Thaksin administration further put its stamp on the government. A package of bureaucratic reform legislation created six new ministries in an effort to streamline the bureaucratic process and increase efficiency and accountability.

The general election held on 6 February 2005 resulted in another landslide victory for Thaksin and TRT, which controlled 374 seats in parliament's lower house. Thaksin's populist policies found great favour in rural areas. Thaksin introduced government programs which greatly benefited rural areas of the country. These programs included debt relief for farmers still reeling from the Asian financial crisis and a new healthcare program that brought coverage to all Thais for 30 baht per visit (equivalent to about US$1). During the 2013–2014 Thai political crisis older residents of the Baan Dong Yaang village in Udon Thani Province stated: "Before Thaksin, no politicians came here. Thaksin understood our situation and helped us."

Despite the majority and surging popularity among rural Thais, Thaksin came under severe questioning for selling telecommunication shares to Temasek, a Singapore investor, for about 70,000 million baht without paying any tax. More complex and high-level corruption and conspiracies were discovered and exposed by Sonthi Limthongkul, Manager Media Group owner, who reached the middle class in the capital and the cities through the only small satellite and internet media channel, ASTV.

Thaksin refused to publicly answer the questions of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a large group of middle class Thais and a coalition of anti-Thaksin protesters led by Sonthi Limthongkul. Due to an inability to clear himself of the corruption allegations, Thaksin's regime fell apart during public protests led by PAD, which led to widespread calls for his resignation and impeachment.

PAD gathered in Bangkok and demanded that Thaksin resign as prime minister so that the king could directly appoint someone else. Thaksin refused and protests continued for weeks. Thaksin consequently dissolved parliament on 24 February 2006 and called a snap election for 2 April 2006. The election was boycotted by the opposition parties, leading to unopposed TRT candidates for 38 seats failing to obtain the necessary quorum of 20 per cent of eligible votes. As the Thai constitution requires all seats to be filled from the beginning of parliament, this produced a constitutional crisis. After floating several suggestions on 4 April 2006, Thaksin announced that he would step down as prime minister as soon as parliament had selected a successor. In a televised speech to senior judges, King Bhumibol requested that they execute their duty justly.

Criminal charges and allegations of administrative abuse cases were brought against the Election Committee. The courts voided the election results, jailed the committee for abuse of power, and ordered a new round of elections for 15 October 2006. Thaksin continued to work as caretaker prime minister.

Civil movements in Thailand were active in the 2000s, with some groups perceiving the Thaksin government as authoritarian, citing extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs, special security laws passed by the administration, and the government's increasingly hardline responses to the insurgency in the southern provinces. Thaksin's government was facing mounting opposition from the urban middle classes, while continuing to remain popular in the predominantly poor and rural north and northeastern regions. However, the most severe critic of Thaksin seemed to be Sondhi Limthongkul, a media tycoon and former colleague.

2006 coup

While Thaksin was in New York City to make a speech at UN Headquarters, the military seized power on 19 September 2006.

The Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin

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