Pheu Thai party

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The Pheu Thai Party ( Thai พรรค เพื่อ ไทย [ pʰák pʰɯ̂ːa tʰaj ] about 'Party for Thais', RTGS Phak Phuea Thai , abbreviated PTP ) is a political party in Thailand . It was founded in 2008 as the successor party to the banned People's Power Party (PPP), which in turn was the successor organization of the Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT) of the disempowered Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , which was forcibly dissolved in 2007 . It is one of the two most important parties in the country. From August 2011 until it was ousted by a military coup in May 2014, it was the government.

history

precursor

The entrepreneur Thaksin Shinawatra , who had made billions in the IT, telecommunications and media industries, founded the Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT) in 1998 . She won the 2001 elections by landslide, and Thaksin became prime minister. After Thaksin and his TRT were re-elected in 2005, there were mass protests accusing him of human rights abuses, corruption and abuse of office. New elections scheduled by Thaksin in 2006 were boycotted by the opposition and declared invalid by the Thai Constitutional Court . In September 2006, the military staged a coup. A specially appointed “constitutional tribunal” declared the TRT to be dissolved because of electoral fraud and pronounced a five-year political ban on its leading members. Your second- tier politicians then switched to the People's Power Party ( Phak Phalang Prachachon , PPP). This won the elections in December 2007. Afterwards, however, there were again accusations of violations of the electoral law, and the PPP was also dissolved by the Constitutional Court. The functionaries of the party were again excluded from political activity for five years. The Pheu-Thai party is the third incarnation of this party.

Founded in 2008 and opposition until 2011

The party was founded in December 2008 by 80 PPP parliamentarians who were not banned for five years after the party was banned. The party's name is taken from an earlier election campaign slogan of the dissolved predecessor party TRT: 'khit mai tham mai phuea thai thuk khon' ("Think new, act new, for all Thais"). This is also the motto of the new party, but with an appended 'ik khrang' ("now again"). After further former PPP members joined, the PTP became the strongest parliamentary group with 188 members in the 473-seat parliament. Yongyuth Wichaidit became the first party leader.

However, the Pheu-Thai party did not succeed in uniting the entire camp of the former TRT, consisting of different political groups and wings. A wing under Newin Chidchob became independent as the Bhumjaithai party and helped the Democratic Party, which rivaled the Thaksin camp , to gain a majority. The Chart Pattana Party , which was absorbed into the TRT in 2005, was re-founded as an independent small party and switched sides. The Muslim Wahdah faction , which had previously been part of the TRT, joined Sonthi Boonyaratglin's Matubhum party . For this, the Pheu Thai Party was able to win the support of over 100 high-ranking ex- military men , including General Pallop Pinmanee , Chongsak Phanitchakul and Jiradet Khotcharat. Several important leaders of the mass movement of the “Red Shirts” ( United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship ) also became members of the Pheu-Thai party.

After the Democratic Party won the support of several smaller parties that had previously ruled in coalition with the PPP, the Pheu-Thai party was the main parliamentary opposition force against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva . Pheu-Thai faction leader Chalerm Yubamrung became the official opposition leader.

2011 election campaign, takeover of government

Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister 2011–14

In the parliamentary elections in Thailand in 2011 , the PTP was the favorite. She nominated Yingluck Shinawatra , the sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra , as the top candidate. The party entered with a strongly populist program. Among other things, she promised to expand the Bangkok Skytrain network from two to ten lines, which should be available to commuters at a flat rate of 20 baht. She advertised the program to distribute a free tablet computer to every first grader (“One Child, One Tablet”) and to raise minimum wages. She announced tax refunds for a family's first home and car, free internet in public places and a scholarship to study abroad for one young person from each of the 796 administrative districts ( Amphoe ). She also promised to issue credit cards to farmers. The PTP made no secret of the fact that Thaksin was behind them. It advertised with the slogan "Thaksin thinks, Pheu Thai acts". Thaksin declared Yingluck to be his "clone".

The PTP finally won 48.4% of the list votes and 265 of the 500 seats and formed a coalition government under Yingluck with four smaller parties.

After their election victory, the Pheu-Thai-led government decided on a guaranteed minimum price for rice of 15,000 baht per ton, which it paid the farmers regardless of the market price. Since the guaranteed price is well above the market value, the program led to a rapidly increasing national debt and overflowing stores of rice that could not be sold on the world market. By the end of 2012, 1.25 million families took advantage of the tax waiver when buying their first car. However, 2,000 vehicles were withdrawn from lenders because the buyers could not pay their installments. Overall, car sales in Thailand increased 161% in 2012. However, this has also led to a sharp increase in vehicles on the previously overcrowded streets of Bangkok.

In September 2012, party chairman and interior minister Yongyuth Wichaidit resigned from office after he was accused of abuse of office in a land sale scandal in 2001. He was succeeded in both offices by Jarupong Ruangsuwan, who was previously the party's general secretary.

2014 coup and military rule

Sudarat Keyuraphan, top candidate in the 2019 election

From the end of October 2013, an opposition movement carried out mass protests against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra. On May 7, 2014, the Constitutional Court removed Yingluck from office. On May 22nd, the army led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha staged a coup and overturned the government.

During the following military rule, the PTP was not dissolved, but was not allowed to be politically active. It resumed its activity in October 2018. Viroj Pao-in was elected as the new party leader, and former Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan - a confidante of Thaksin Shinawatra - was named campaign leader for the parliamentary elections in March 2019 and later as the top candidate for prime ministeriality. In the election, according to preliminary results, the Pheu Thai Party was the second strongest force behind the military- affiliated Phalang Pracharat Party with 22% of the vote . However, due to many constituencies won directly, it will be the strongest force in the House of Representatives with 135 of the 500 seats.

Known members

Weng Tojirakarn in a shirt with the PTP logo (2011)

Remarks

  1. ↑ About € 0.45 at the rate at that time
  2. ↑ About 355 € at the rate at the time

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael H. Nelson : Thailand's Election of July 3, 2011. An Overview. King Prajadhipok's Institute, September 19, 2012.
  2. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: as of December 4, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.parliament.go.th
  3. ↑ Bangkok Post of January 3, 2010: Retired army general lured to join Puea Thai
  4. ↑ Jochen Buchsteiner: Thaksin's coup. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 15, 2011, accessed June 16, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Thitinan Pongsudhirak: Election campaigns point to a different Thailand. In: Bangkok Post , June 18, 2011, accessed June 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ Pascal Nufer: Brother Thaksin dominates election campaign in Thailand. Tagesschau, Schweizer Fernsehen, July 2, 2011, accessed on January 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ He thinks she steers. In: Tages-Anzeiger , July 4, 2011, accessed January 9, 2013.
  8. ↑ Landslide victory for Yingluck. In: ORF . July 4, 2011, accessed July 4, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Steve Finch: How Rice is Causing a Crisis in Thailand. In: The Diplomat , November 10, 2012.
  10. ^ Minister defends first-time car policy. In: Bangkok Post , March 18, 2013.
  11. ^ 'First-car scheme snarls traffic.' In: Bangkok Post , January 26, 2013.
  12. ↑ Aukkarapon Niyomyat, Panu Wongcha-um: Thailand's biggest political party selects new leaders ahead of poll. Reuters, October 28, 2018.
  13. ↑ Preliminary election result according to the election commission of Thailand, accessed on March 26, 2019.