New Hope Party

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The party's first logo in 1990

The Party of New Hope ( Thai พรรค ความ หวัง ใหม่ , RTGS : Phak Khwamwang Mai, pronunciation: [pʰák kʰwaːmwǎŋ màj] , English New Aspiration Party , NAP , also translated as "New Hope Party ") is a political party in Thailand . It was founded in 1990 by the retired General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh , was temporarily the strongest party in the country, but has been politically insignificant since the party founder Chavalit left in 2002.

founding

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the party founder (2018)

General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigned in 1990 from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Thai Army and Chief of the Supreme Staff of the Armed Forces and subsequently founded the New Hope Party. The founding meeting took place on October 11, 1990 at the JB Hotel in Hat Yai , Songkhla Province , in the deep south of Thailand. The motto of the party was ประเทศ มั่นคง ประชาชน มั่งคั่ง (Prathet Mankhong Prachachon Mankhang) , which translates as “stable country, wealthy citizens”. The party logo showed a sunflower .

The New Hope Party was strongly supported by the influential agricultural and conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) and its chairman Dhanin Chearavanont . The good relations between Chavalit and CP can be traced back to the fact that Chavalit, as army chief, secured lucrative contracts for the CP group as part of the regional development projects Isan Khiew ("Green Isan ", in the northeast) and New Hope (in the southern provinces ).

Chavalit's goal was to create a dominant state party modeled on the Golkar of Indonesian President Suharto . Unlike most Thai parties, Neue Hope had a tight organizational structure and a large party headquarters with full-time employees from its inception. She published a monthly magazine and glossy brochures. The NAP campaigned for the support of village heads and regional leaders in the northeast region. Chavalit used his contacts and databases from his time as Director of the Internal Security Operations Command of the armed forces and as head of the "Green Isan" project. The party's politicians included many former civil servants and the military. It appealed to the need for national security and stood for more conventional concepts of economic development. With his populist appearance, Chavalit also addressed sections of the organized workforce.

The party had a heterogeneous composition. On the one hand, it was found by locally influential people with criminal connections (so-called “godfathers” or Chao Pho ) such as Udomsak Thangthong (“Sia Oh”, the godfather of Prachuap Khiri Khan ) and Charoen Phattanadamronchit (“Sia Leng”, the godfather of Khon Kaen ) supported. Because of the involvement of these dubious “influential people”, the first general secretary of the NAP, Prasong Soonsiri , resigned from the party before the party's first election in March 1992. On the other hand, it was joined by a number of left-wing intellectuals from the generation of the student movement of the 1970s ("Octobrists"), including Chaturon Chaisang , who became the party's general secretary in 1997.

development

When it first took part in the election in March 1992, it became the strongest party with 22.4% of the vote. However, it only won the third largest number of constituencies (72 out of 360), most of them in the northeast region and in the extreme south, where the Wahdah group formed by Muslim MPs had joined the NAP. She went into opposition to the military-backed government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon . Chavalit was sworn in as the official opposition leader. During the pro-democracy mass protests against the Suchinda government in Black May 1992, the New Hope party sided with the opposition movement. The Thai press then referred to it as one of the "angel parties". After Suchinda's resignation, the "angel parties" won the election in September 1992. The New Hope party became the fourth strongest force with 51 seats and joined the government coalition of Chuan Leekpai . After their breakup, the party was able to gain slightly in the early elections in 1995 and became part of the coalition government of Banharn Silpa-archa , in which Chavalit served as vice-premier.

In the 1996 election, the party received the most votes and formed a coalition with Chavalit as prime minister . Previously, she had succeeded in persuading inner-party groups from other parties, in particular the outgoing Prime Minister Banharn's chart Thai party, which is falling in popularity , to overflow. The most famous of these was the " Wang Nam Yen Group" of Sanoh Thienthong , which is known to change parties regularly. The NAP won 125 of the 393 seats, more than twice as many as in the previous election. After the election, Chalerm Yubamrung dissolved his “mass party” and joined the New Hope party, where he immediately became vice-chairman. After the beginning of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the trust of the electorate disappeared and Chavalit had to resign.

Without new elections, a new government coalition was formed under the leadership of the Democratic Party and Chuan Leekpais . The NAP, on the other hand, had to sit on the opposition benches, and Chavalit was once again the official opposition leader. The CP group also withdrew their support for Chavalit and his party and turned to Thaksin Shinawatra and his newly formed Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT). At the end of the legislative period, numerous members of the NAP switched to other parties, especially the TRT. In the January 2001 election, the New Hope Party fell to just 27 out of 500 seats. She then entered into a coalition with the TRT and Chavalit became vice-premier in the government of the victorious Thaksin.

Only a small minority, led by former minister Chingchai Mongcoltam, decided to continue the party. But it has played no role in Thai politics since then. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, it received 0.08% of the vote.

literature

  • Daniel Evan King: New political parties in Thailand. A case study of the Palang Dharma Party and the New Aspiration Party. University of Wisconsin, Madison 1996.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus-Albrecht Pretzell: The psychological starting position of the term of office of Prime Minister Chaovalit Yongchaiyudh. In: Südostasien aktuell , Volume 16 (1997), pp. 62–65.
    Andreas Lorenz: Ex-General Chavalit will be the new Premier of Thailand. In: Berliner Zeitung , November 19, 1996.
    Bomb in the cave. In: Der Spiegel , No. 39/1996, September 23, 1996.
    Parliament elected in Thailand. In: Neues Deutschland , November 18, 1996.
    Daniel Kestenholz: Thailand's persistent path towards democracy. In: Die Welt , March 31, 2000.
  2. ↑ Gabriele Venzky : Victory of the weak angels. In: Die Zeit , No. 39/1992, September 18, 1992.
    Jürgen Rüland: Dictatorship or Democracy? Power play in Bangkok. In: From Politics and Contemporary History , Volume 27, 1992, pp. 40–47.
  3. ↑ Michael H. Nelson: Central Authority and Local Democratization in Thailand. White Lotus Press, Bangkok 1998, p. 155.
  4. ^ A b c Duncan McCargo: Thailand's political parties. Real, authentic and actual. In: Political Change in Thailand Democracy and Participation. Routledge, 1997, p. 128.
  5. ↑ Duncan McCargo , Ukrist Pathamanand: The Thaksinization of Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2005, p. 33.
  6. ^ McCargo, Ukrist: The Thaksinization of Thailand. 2005, p. 76.
  7. ^ Marvin J. Levine: Worker Rights and Labor Standards in Asia's Four New Tigers. A Comparitive Perspective. Plenum Press, New York 1997, p. 237.
  8. ↑ Sombat Chantornvong: Local Godfathers in Thai Politics. In: Money & Power in Provincial Thailand. NIAS Publishing, Copenhagen 2000, p. 63.
  9. ↑ Sombat Chantornvong: Local Godfathers in Thai Politics. 2000, p. 72.
  10. ↑ Kanokrat Lertchoosakul: The Rise of the Octobrists: Power and Conflict among former Left Wing Student Activists in Contemporary Thai Politics. Dissertation, London School of Economics, London 2012, pp. 133–144.
  11. ↑ Allen Hicken: Party Fabrication. Constitutional Reform and the Rise of Thai Rak Thai. In: Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 6, 2006, p. 398.
  12. ↑ Sombat Chantornvong: Local Godfathers in Thai Politics. 2000, p. 66.
  13. ↑ Martina Peitz: Tiger Leaping of the Elephant. Rent-seeking, nation building and catch-up development in Thailand. LIT Verlag, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-03735-268-7 , p. 375f.
  14. ↑ https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/download/pdf/24/1.0165699/1