Parliamentary election in Thailand 2011
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The 2011 parliamentary election in Thailand took place on July 3rd. The opposition Pheu Thai Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra , gained an absolute majority , while the previous ruling party, the Democratic Party , only received 30 percent of the votes cast. The election became necessary after the House of Representatives was dissolved by Royal Decree, BE 2554 (2011) on May 10, 2011.
The election was originally scheduled for November 14, 2010. However, it has been postponed several times.
The previous parliamentary election took place on December 23, 2007.
Candidates and parties
Yingluck Shinawatra , the sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , ran as the top candidate of the popular Pheu Thai Party (PTP) . The PTP is the successor party to the Phak Palang Prachachon (PPP), which was banned by the Constitutional Court in 2008 for electoral fraud . This in turn is the successor party of the former ruling party Thai Rak Thai (TRT), which was banned after the military coup in 2006 .
Abhisit Vejjajiva , then Prime Minister, ran as the top candidate for the Democratic Party .
In addition, the Bhumjaithai and Chartthaipattana Parties (CP), the Chart Pattana Party , Phak Matubhum , the Social Action Party and numerous smaller parties took part in the election.
background
A little more than a year before the elections, demonstrations took place in Bangkok aimed at the immediate resignation of the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. These evolved into the 2010 Bangkok riots , which were eventually put down by the Thai Armed Forces . The demonstrators, organized as the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship , are close to the PTP.
Election campaign
In the run-up to the elections, questions arose about the military's position on the likely PTP victory. Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha emphasized in a televised address in June 2011 that he viewed the PTP as a threat to the state order and criticized an "anti-monarchist undercurrent" in the election campaign.
The PTP advertised with the slogan “ Thaksin thinks, Pheu-Thai acts. ". Yingluck Shinawatra also promised discounts and credit cards for farmers.
Abhisit Vejjajiva campaigned with income guarantees for agriculture, loan discounts for home buyers and better salaries in the public sector.
Results
absolute majority | |||||
↓ | |||||
265 | 19th | 16 | 7th | 34 | 159 |
Pheu Thai | CP * | Other | BJT ** | Democratic Party | |
* CP = charter thai pattana; ** BJT = Bhumjaithai party |
On July 4th, Thailand's electoral commission announced that the PTP had won 265 of the 500 seats. The Democratic Party won 159 seats. The turnout was 75.03 percent.
The election commission received 1,900 complaints about irregularities.
On July 11, the electoral commission confirmed 358 seats. 142 seats for the PTP and Democratic Party were not accepted for the time being. The next day the Commission launched an investigation into the PTP's campaign. Specifically, it was suspected that Thaksin Shinawatra and other people excluded from politics were involved in the PTP election campaign. On July 19, the electoral commission dismissed all complaints and confirmed the original result.
On August 2nd, Somsak Kiatsuranont was elected as the new President of the House of Representatives.
Political party | Votes (party list) |
% | Seats (party list) |
Seats (constituencies) |
Seats (total) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pheu Thai party | 15,744,190 | 48.4% | 61 | 204 | 265 |
Democratic Party | 11,433,762 | 35.2% | 44 | 115 | 159 |
Bhumjaithai party | 1,281,577 | 3.9% | 5 | 29 | 34 |
Charter Haipattana Party | 906.656 | 2.8% | 4th | 15th | 19th |
Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party | 494,894 | 1.5% | 2 | 5 | 7th |
Phalang Chon Party | 178.110 | 0.6% | 1 | 6th | 7th |
Rak Thailand Party | 998.603 | 3.1% | 4th | 0 | 4th |
Matubhum party | 251.702 | 0.8% | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rak Santi Party | 284.132 | 0.9% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Mahachon party | 133,772 | 0.4% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
New Democracy Party | 125,784 | 0.4% | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Others | 692,322 | 2.1% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
All in all | 32,525,504 | 100.0% | 125 | 375 | 500 |
See also
literature
- Michael H. Nelson : Thailand's Election of July 3, 2011. An Overview. King Prajadhipok's Institute, Bangkok 2012
- Michael H. Nelson: The Democrat and Phuea Thai Parties in Thailand's 2011 Elections. Thaksin Shinawatra Returns to Power . (PDF; 2.5 MB) City University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Web links
- Official website of the Parliament of Thailand. Retrieved on June 16, 2011 (multilingual, -, also, English).
- Nicola Glass: Thailand before the election - democracy or authoritarian system? , Deutschlandfunk - " Background " from July 2, 2011
- Sven Hansen: There is a lot of work to be done. Thailand expert on the elections. In: the daily newspaper . July 4, 2011, accessed on July 4, 2011 (interview with political scientist Wolfram Schaffar, holder of the Chair for International Development at the University of Vienna ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: A woman will soon rule in Thailand. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . July 3, 2011, accessed July 4, 2011 .
- ↑ Thai elections likely to be held on July 3. (No longer available online.) In: news.asiaone.com. May 11, 2011, archived from the original on May 11, 2011 ; accessed on July 4, 2011 . 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.
- ↑ Katja Dombrowski: Yingluck Shinawatra - The sister. (No longer available online.) In: EMMA. December 2012, archived from the original on December 19, 2013 ; Retrieved February 9, 2014 . 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.
- ↑ a b c d Jochen Buchsteiner: Thaksin's coup. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. June 15, 2011, accessed June 16, 2011 .
- ↑ Udo Schmidt: 'Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts'. In: Deutsche Welle . January 7, 2011, accessed December 10, 2013 .
- ↑ EC announces Thailand's official 2011 General Election result . ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2011 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. Election Commission (EC) Thailand, last accessed July 5, 2011
- ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: Election triumph for Thaksin's sister. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. July 4, 2011, accessed July 4, 2011 .
- ↑ Investigation initiated against the winner. In: ORF . July 13, 2011, accessed July 14, 2011 .
- ^ Clear the way for the first head of government. In: ORF. July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011 .
- ↑ Members of Parliament elected President of Parliament. In: ORF. August 2, 2011, accessed August 2, 2011 .
- ↑ Thai election commission announces official election result. In: xinhuanet.com. July 5, 2011, accessed March 27, 2012 .