KINGDOM OF THAILAND

Official name: Prathet Thai (Kingdom of Thailand)
Location: South East Asia
International organisations: Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, Association of South East Asian Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, United Nations, World Trade Organisation
Borders: Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia
Coastline: Andaman Sea, Gulf of Thailand
Land area: 514,000 Km2
Population: 63,400,000
Ethnicity: The majority of the population idenify as Thai even if Thai is not their first language. There are minorities of Lao, Chinese, Malay and Khmer.
Languages: Thai is the official language, but only 53% speak it as their first language. Minority languages include Lao (usually known as Isan in Thailand) 27%, Chinese 12%, Malay 3.7%, Khmer 2.7%.
Religion: Buddhism, though not officially the state religion, carries the prestigious patronage of the King and is actively practised by most of the population. Islam 3.8%, Christianity 0.5%, Hinduism 0.1%
Form of government: Semi-constitutional monarchy, limited parliamentary democracy (puncuated by periods of military rule). Thailand is divided into 76 provinces.
Capital: Bangkok (Krung Thep)
Constitution: Thailand has had 18 constitutions. The current Constitution of Thailand was approved by the people at a referendum on 19 August 2007, and signed by the King on 24 August 2007.
Head of state: King Phumiphon Adunyadet came to the throne on 9 June 1946. He is the world's longest-serving current head of state. The King is advised by a powerful Privy Council whose members he appoints.

Head of government: The Prime Minister appointed by the King. The Prime Minister is normally the leader of the largest party in the legislature, to which he is accountable. The reality of Thai politics is that the Prime Minister must also be acceptable to the King and his advisors.
Legislature: The National Assembly (Ratha Sapha) is a bicameral legislature. The House of Representatives (Saphaputhan Ratsadon) has 480 members, elected for four-year terms. Of these, 400 members are elected from multi-members constituencies and 80 members are elected by proportional representation. The Senate (Wuthisapha), a non-partisan chamber, has 150 members: 76 are elected and 74 are appointed by a committee of judges and members of independent government bodies.
Electoral authority: The Election Commission of Thailand conducts national elections.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 5, Civil Liberties 4

Political history

Thailand, a united kingdom since the 13th century, was an absolute monarchy until 1932, when an army coup led to the adoption of a western system of government. Real power, however, was held by the army. The military government was allied with Japan 1941-44, and in 1944, to avoid Allied occupation, it resigned and allowed the democratic opposition to come to power. The army returned to power after another coup in 1947. There were further coups in 1948, 1951, 1957 and 1959, preventing every attempt by the democratic parties to establish a stable civilian government.

In 1973 the long-serving military ruler Thanom Kittakachorn retired and there was a return to democratic government. But in 1976 another, much more bloody, coup returned the army to power under Thanin Kraivixien and his successors Kriangsak Chomanan and Prem Tinsulanonda. In 1988 there was another return to civilian government under Chatichai Choonhavan, followed by the inevitable coup in 1991. But this time the people of Thailand had had enough, and the army's attempt to impose Suchinda Kraprayoon as Prime Minister led to a popular revolt in Bangkok in which many people died.

Intervention by the King led to the withdrawal of the army from politics and promulgation of a fully democratic constitution in 1997. Under Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai there was considerable economic and political progress, but Thailand was hard-hit by the economic crisis of 1997. Disillusionment with existing political options led to the triumph of businessman Thaksin Shinawatra and his populist Thais Love Thais (TRT) party at the 2000 elections. The older parties, the liberal Democratic Party of Chuan Leekpai and the conservative Thai Nation Party, were heavily defeated. Thaksin had an even more sweeping election victory in early 2005, but he then became mired in corruption scandals and his popularity declined. An snap election in April 2006 was boycotted by the opposition, leading to a prolonged political crisis culminating in a military coup in September 2006, which was carried out with the tacit approval of the King.

The military regime of General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was fairly mild and soon handed over power to a civilian prime minister, Surayud Chulanont. Fresh elections were held in December 2007. Despite the best efforts of the palace and the military, the People's Power Party (PPP), supporters of the exiled Thaksin, emerged as the largest party. The palace, representing the Bangkok elite, was determined not to accept this, and two successive PPP prime ministers, Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat, were forced out of office on spurious legal grounds after scenes of orchestrated mob violence in Bangkok. In December 2008, in what amounted to a "soft coup", the palace engineered the defection of a PPP faction led by Newin Chidchob, whose support allowed the Democratic Party leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to form a ministry despite having lost an election only a year before. These events made it clear that the real centres of power in Thailand are still the King and his Privy Council (headed by former military ruler Prem Tinsulanonda), and the military.

Freedom House's 2009 report on Thailand (which was written before the events of December 2008) says: "Thailand is not an electoral democracy... The December 2007 parliamentary elections proceeded without major violence or disruptions and returned Thailand to civilian rule, but they were not free and fair... The current constitution was drafted under the supervision of the military-backed government [and] contains a number of measures designed to limit the power of the executive... To bolster the military's position ahead of the December 2007 elections, the CNS-appointed legislature passed the Internal Security Act (ISA) in November. The law created an Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC)—headed by the prime minister and the army chief, who serves as deputy director - that would have the authority to override civilian administration and restrict basic civil liberties to suppress disorder, even without a formal state of emergency... Corruption ranked among Thais' top frustrations with the Thaksin government and was cited as part of the military's justification for the 2006 coup... Thailand was ranked 80 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... The 2007 constitution restored freedom of expression guarantees that had been eliminated by the 2006 coup... [but] Thailand’s six main television stations and all 525 radio frequencies are monopolised by the government and military... The country's lese majeste laws, which allow anyone to file a police complaint against another for defaming the monarchy and include penalties of up to 15 years in prison, have increasingly been used to stifle free expression."

Updated December 2009