Chart Pattana Party

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Party logo from 2007

The Chart Pattana Party ( Thai พรรค ชาติ พัฒนา , RTGS : Phak Chat Phatthana, translated “Party for National Development” or “National Development Party”) is a political party in Thailand.

It was founded in 1992 by the former Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan . In the 1990s it was one of the four strongest parties in the country. Like most other Thai parties, it consisted of several intra-party groups and wings. It did not have a fixed organizational structure and did not pursue any particular political ideology, but served the interests of the politicians who had come together in it. Often their MPs also transferred to other parties. Their strongholds were in the northeast of Thailand ( Isan ). In 2005 she joined the Thai-Rak-Thai party .

After its ban in 2007, it was revived, but could not regain its former importance. As a result of mergers with other parties, she changed her name several times. So it was called from 2007 Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana , from 2010 Ruam Chart Pattana , 2011 for a short time Chart Pattana Puea Pandin . It has had its original name since August 2011. Since the parliamentary elections in 2019 , she has been represented with three seats in the Thai House of Representatives and as a junior partner in the coalition government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha .

history

Established in 1992

The Chart Pattana Party was officially created by renaming the Thai People's Party founded in 1982 by General Arthit Kamlang-ek . In 1992, however, this was only an empty shell, as General Arthit and all important members had resigned. Shortly before the election in September 1992, Chatichai Choonhavan, who had been prime minister until the military coup in 1991, and a group of other politicians from the Chart Thai party led by Chatichai's nephew Korn Dabbaransi took over the party and renamed it. They had left their former party because it took part in the military-affiliated coalition government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon and there were also conflicts over the party leadership. In the violent clashes between the military-backed government and the democracy movement (“ Black May ”), the Thai press had called it one of the “devil's parties”. Korn's group was dissatisfied with this alliance and also convinced Chatichai to leave the party. The new party was to serve as a vehicle for Chatichai's second term. It was also joined by members of the Samakkhi Tham party , which is also closely related to the military junta, and who now wanted to distance themselves from it. These included General Arthit Kamlang-ek (who was returning to his previous party), Somchai Khunpluem (the "Godfather of Chonburi ") and the entrepreneur Suwat Liptapanlop from Nakhon Ratchasima . Then there was the Secretary General of the Democratic Party , Prachuab Chaisarn.

It was important to Chatichai that the party had nothing to do with the military junta and its violent repression against the mass protests in May 1992. He presented it as a new party that consisted mainly of younger MPs, advocated democracy and took a neutral position in the polarized political landscape. The party succeeded in attracting financially strong donors and in convincing MPs from other parties to convert. In the September 1992 election, she was the third strongest force with 60 seats. She joined the coalition government led by Chuan Leekpai and his Democratic Party, but left it again after less than a year.

Government participation and dissolution under Thaksin

Suwat Liptapanlop (2011)

In the 1995 election, the Chart Pattana party lost some seats and remained in the opposition. After the early election in 1996, she was a junior partner in the coalition government of Chavalit Yongchaiyudh . After Chatichai Choonhavan's death in 1998, he was succeeded by his nephew Korn Dabbaransi as party leader. From 1998 the party belonged to Chuan Leekpai's second cabinet. In the 2001 election, she suffered heavy losses in favor of the new Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT), which won the election like a landslide. She first went into the opposition. In December of the same year, however, she joined the TRT-led coalition of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , which then gave the government almost three-quarters of the seats in parliament.

Thaksin urged the Chart Pattana Party to merge with his TRT. This was also supported by some of its members, but not by the party leadership around the new chairman Suwat Liptapanlop. Thaksin then kicked her out of his coalition in November 2003. Politicians who wanted to remain part of the government, including co-founder and former party leader Korn Dabbaransi, joined Thaksin's TRT. However, the Chart Thai Party was still strong in its heartland in the northeast. She managed to win against the TRT in the 2004 local elections in Nakhon Ratchasima. Thaksin exerted further pressure and before the 2005 election the rest of the party joined the TRT, which after the election had more than three-quarters of the seats.

Revival since 2007

Wannarat Channukul (2009)

After the coup in September 2006 , the "Constitutional Tribunal" dissolved the TRT party in 2007 and imposed a five-year political ban on all 111 of its officials, including Suwat Liptapanlop. The remaining politicians of Chart Pattana and those of Ruam Jai Thai ("United Thai") merged in September 2007 to form the Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana . Since then, their actual boss has been Suwat, who, however, was not allowed to accept political office due to his activity ban. His brother-in-law Wannarat Channukul is therefore officially the party chairman. At the first parliamentary election after the coup in December 2007, it presented itself as a neutral alternative to the two rival major parties ( Democratic Party and TRT successor, the People's Power Party ). It included both former representatives of the Thaksin camp and its opponents. The party won eight seats. She joined the government led by the People's Power Party under Samak Sundaravej . In it, Suwat's wife Poonpirom Liptapanlop served as energy minister. In December 2008 the party defected to the Democratic Party camp and helped Abhisit Vejjajiva gain a majority. Wannarat was Minister of Energy in his cabinet. Before the 2011 election, the Ruam Chart Pattana merged with the main body of the Puea Pandin party to form Chart Pattana Puea Pandin .

Suwat Liptapanlop is also active as a sports official, for example as president of the Thai tennis association. So he managed to win prominent athletes for the party. In the election she counted the former tennis professional Paradorn Srichaphan , the former national soccer player Piyapong Piew-on and the Olympic Taekwondoin Yaowapa Boorapolchai among her candidates. The party won seven seats, most of them for constituencies in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Suwat's and Wannarat's home provinces. She joined the ruling coalition led by the victorious Pheu-Thai Party and Yingluck Shinawatra . Wannarat Channukul took over the industrial department in her cabinet. In September the party cut the bulky name and reverted to its original name. Wannarat resigned in January 2012 for health reasons and was replaced by MR Pongsvas Svasti .

After the coup in May 2014 , the CPP - like all parties in Thailand - was inactive. After the revival in 2018, Suwat's younger brother Tewan Liptapanlop took over the party chairmanship. In the parliamentary elections in March 2019 , it fell to three seats in the House of Representatives. She then went into a coalition with the Phalang Pracharat party under the previous junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha and 17 other parties. In Prayut's second government, the CPP provides Tewan Liptapanlop as the minister in the Prime Minister's office .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Suchit Bunbongkarn: Thailand. Democracy Under Siege. In: Driven by Growth. Political Change in the Asia-Pacific Region. ME Sharpe, 1999, p. 173.
  2. ↑ a b c Surin Maisrikrod: Thailand's Two General Elections in 1992. Democracy Sustained. Institute of South East Asian Studies, 1992, p. 7.
  3. ↑ Michael Kelly Connors: Thaksin's Thailand. Thai Politics in 2003-04. In: Thailand's Economic Recovery. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2006, p. 31.
  4. ^ A b David Murray: Angels and Devils. Thai Politics from February 1991 to September 1992 - A Struggle for Democracy? White Orchid Press, Bangkok 1996, p. 2003.
  5. ^ Tom Wingfield: Democratization and economic crisis in Thailand. In: Political Business in East Asia. Routledge, 2002, p. 266.
  6. ↑ Sombat Chantornvong: Local Godfathers in Thai Politics. In: Money & Power in Provincial Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2000, p. 64.
  7. ^ Yoko Ueda: The Entrepreneurs of Khorat. In: Money & Power in Provincial Thailand. 2000, p. 183.
  8. ^ William R. Thompson: Thailand. In: Asia & Pacific Review 2003/04. The Economic and Business Report. P. 338.
  9. ↑ Michael Kelly Connors: Thaksin's Thailand. Thai Politics in 2003-04. In: Thailand's Economic Recovery: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006, p. 32.
  10. ↑ Bidhya Bowornwathana: The Politics of Combating Corruption When Big Businessmen are at the helm. Lessons from Thaksin and Berlusconi. In: The Many Faces of Public Management Reform in the Asia-Pacific Region. Emerald Group, 2009, p. 75.
  11. ↑ Prayad Hongthongkham: The General Election on February 6, 2005. A Political Transformation. In: Thailand Monitor , May 16, 2005, Thai World Affairs Center, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University.
  12. ^ 2 Thai political groups merge for co-founding new party. In: People's Daily Online , Sept. 14, 2007.
  13. ^ Duncan McCargo : Thailand. State of Anxiety. In: Southeast Asian Affairs 2008. ISEAS Publications, Singapore 2008, p. 341.
  14. ↑ Ruam Chart Pattana to be renamed. in: Bangkok Post , April 7, 2011.
  15. ↑ Budsarakham Sinlapalavan, Khanittha Theppajorn: All the talk's about jocks. ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nationmultimedia.com archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Nation , May 15, 2011.
  16. ↑ Chart Pattana Puea Pandin renamed "Chart Pattana". In: Bangkok Post , September 18, 2011.
  17. ^ Cabinet Reshuffle. Drastic overhauling for Cabinet. In: The Nation , January 18, 2012.