Bhumjaithai party

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The Bhumjaithai party (also: Bhumchaithai or Bhum Jai Thai , BJT for short ; Thai พรรค ภูมิใจ ไทย , RTGS : Phak Phum Chai Thai , "Party of the Proud Thais") is a political party in Thailand . Their program has a populist base, the ideology of which is partly taken from Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai-Rak-Thai party . From December 2008 to August 2011 she was a member of the ruling coalition under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva .

history

Newin Chidchob was considered the de facto leader of the BJT in the first few years

The Bhumjaithai Party was founded on November 5th, 2008 in Bangkok . The reason for the establishment of this new party was the expected decision of the Thai Constitutional Court to ban the Neutral Democratic Party - the de facto predecessor of the Bhumjaithai - together with the People's Power Party and the Chart Thai Party . Following the dissolution of these three parties by the Constitutional Court ruling on December 2, 2008, former members of the Neutral Democratic Party and a former wing of the People's Power Party led by Newin Chidchob ("Newin's Friends Group") joined the Bhumjaithai. Newin himself had already been banned from political office for five years by the Thai Constitutional Court in the course of the dissolution of the Thai-Rak-Thai party in 2007. Nevertheless, he was considered a “puller” and de facto leader of the Bhumjaithai party as well as the “godfather” of his home province Buri Ram . Newin's father Chai Chidchob , who was President of the Thai House of Representatives and the National Assembly from May 2008 to May 2011 , also joined the Bhumjaithai party.

The Constitutional Court also removed the previous Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and other members of the government from office. As a result, the previous health minister, Chaovarat Chanweerakul , who was not affected by the judgment, was interim head of government for two weeks. He subsequently joined the Bhumjaithai party and switched sides with Newin and his group after a series of backroom negotiations. Thus, the previous opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva from the Democratic Party received a simple majority of the votes in parliament on December 15, 2008 and became prime minister.

Anutin Charnvirakul - BJT party leader since 2012

Subsequently, the Bhumjaithai party entered a government coalition with the Democratic and several smaller parties. In the Abhisit Vejjajiva government she was represented by three ministers (Chaovarat Chanweerakul as Minister of the Interior, Sophon Saram as Minister of Transport and Pornthiva Nakasai as Minister of Commerce). Chaovarat Chanweerakul also took over the party leadership of the BJT in February 2009. It was considered an insecure coalition partner of the Democrats and tried to position itself in the middle between them and the opposition Pheu-Thai party of Thaksin Shinawatra's supporters . However, the party remained in government until the end of the 2011 legislative period and had 34 seats in parliament - mainly directly elected MPs from Buri Ram, Surin and other provinces in the northeast region . In this region in particular, however, the BJT was unpopular because Newin's and his group's change of sides was seen as an opportunistic betrayal of his former mentor, the popular former Prime Minister Thaksin.

The Bhumjaithai party ran in the general election in Thailand in July 2011 and won 34 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives, of which 29 were direct seats. Although it lost some constituencies in northeast Thailand to the Pheu Thai party (but the BJT remained strong in Newin's home province of Buri Ram), it gained seats in the central region . Subsequently, she was in opposition to the government of Yingluck Shinawatra (Thaksin's sister) of the Pheu-Thai party. In October 2012, the former health minister Anuthin Charnvirakul (son of Chaovarat) replaced his father as chairman of the BJT. After the military coup in May 2014, like all parties, it had to cease its activities.

The Bhumjaithai party ran for parliamentary elections in March 2019 , with Anutin Charnvirakul as the top candidate. During the election campaign, she campaigned for the legalization of cannabis cultivation and consumption - expressly also as a stimulant. According to preliminary results, the party came in fifth place with 10% of the vote and 52 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (last accessed November 2, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.politicalbase.in.th
  2. ^ Rising tides. A democratic ethos and populist politics carry the nation forward. In: Oxford Business Group: The Report. Thailand 2012. London 2012, p. 15.
  3. ^ A b c Duncan McCargo : Thailand. In: Regional Outlook Southeast Asia 2010-2011. ISEAS Publishing, Singapore 2010, p. 55.
  4. ↑ Chairat Charoensin-o-larn: Thailand in 2009. Unusual Politics Becomes Usual. In: Daljit Singh: Southeast Asian Affairs 2010. ISEAS Publishing, Singapore 2010, pp. 303–331, at p. 320.
  5. ↑ Anutin Charnvirakul: Cannabis Legalization for Thailand's Prosperity
  6. ↑ Preliminary election result according to the election commission of Thailand, accessed on March 26, 2019.