The New Politics Party (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

NPP; th, พรรคการเมืองใหม่ , ), was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

founded on 2 June 2009. The NPP was the political party of the

People's Alliance for Democracy The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD; th, พันธมิตรประชาชนเพื่อประชาธิปไตย, Phanthamit Prachachon Pheu Prachathipatai; commonly known as "Yellow Shirts") is a Thai reactionary, m ...

(PAD; "Yellow Shirts"), with which it shared the same principles and ideas. Ahead of the 2011 general election, the party broke with the PAD movement, and renamed to Thai Social Democratic Party (TSDP; th, พรรคสังคมประชาธิปไตยไทย) two years later.

History

In May 2009, The People's Alliance for Democracy, better known as the "Yellow Shirts" movement, announced to create a political party. It claimed that other political parties in Thailand protected only their own vested interests, such as the bureaucrats and elites, and were unable to tackle the country's problems. The party aspired to solicit more than 5,000 members and set up branches in all regions of Thailand, within the one-year deadline. It also planned to an early completion of the registration process in order to contest the next general election. The interim leader of the party was

Somsak Kosaisuuk Somsak Kosaisuuk (Thai script: สมศักดิ์ โกศัยสุข; born 2 March 1945) is a Thai union official and politician. He was the Secretary-General of the ''State Enterprise Labour Relations Confederation'' (SELRC), a unio ...

. On 7 October 2009,

Sondhi Limthongkul Sondhi Limthongkul ( th, สนธิ ลิ้มทองกุล; RTGS: Sonthi Limthongkun; , born 7 November 1947) is a Thai media mogul, reactionary activist, demagogue, and leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). He was elect ...

was elected as the leader of the party. The party's colors were yellow and green. Yellow referred to the

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

of Thailand, and green represented "clean politics", in which corruption is repelled by an independent

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. The party's logo showed four yellow hands intertwined in a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

-like arrangement, against a green background, topped by a rainbow in Thailand's national colours. It was said to symbolise that "the people are at the centre of new politics", referring to the four main

regions of Thailand Thailand is variably divided into different sets of regions, the most notable of which are the six-region grouping used in geographic studies, and the four-region grouping consistent with the Monthon administrative regional grouping system forme ...

and four occupational groups.

Aims for political reform

PAD and NPP wanted to replace the

National Assembly of Thailand The National Assembly of Thailand ( Abrv: NAT; th, รัฐสภา, , ) is the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Thailand. It convenes in the Sappaya-Sapasathan, Dusit District, Bangkok. The National Assembly was establishe ...

with a body with only 30 percent directly elected members of parliament, the rest installed by

employers Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a co ...

and

labour unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

or similar interest groups, in order to achieve their ideal of "clean politics".Richard Lloyd Parry
"People's Alliance for Democracy's narrow nationalism in Thailand"
''The Times'' online, September 5, 2008, retrieved 5 January 2011. Their adherents typically distrusted established politicians and representatives and wanted to replace them. The party claimed to defend the supposedly endangered monarchy.

2011 split

In 2011 a split occurred between Sondhi and the majority of PAD on one side and the NPP leadership around Somsak on the other. In late-March Sondhi demanded the party boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections according to PAD's extra-parliamentary opposition strategy and its abstention campaign (" Vote No"). This was rejected by Somsak and NPP functionaries who were keen to field candidates and seek parliamentary representation. The hardline PAD position, however, was that all party politicians—including NPP members—should retreat for a certain period while the king would appoint a non-partisan, expert government. This idea was rejected by Somsak and his public servants union, SELRC, as undemocratic and "close to a coup d'etat". This led consequently to the retirement of Somsak from the PAD leadership in late-April and Sondhi's departure from the NPP in return. Eventually, the party received 0.1% of votes in the July 2011 election. In 2013 Somsak Kosaisuuk changed the name of the party to

Thai Social Democratic Party The New Politics Party (abbreviated NPP; th, พรรคการเมืองใหม่ , ), was a political party in Thailand founded on 2 June 2009. The NPP was the political party of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD; "Yellow Sh ...

."สมศักดิ์" ลั่นตั้ง "ส.ป.ท." ปลดแอก "พธม." - ลาขาด "สนธิ-ยะใส"
7 July 2013 The party won 0.02% of votes in the 2019 general election.

Leader

References

External links

* {{Thai political parties 2009 establishments in Thailand 2019 disestablishments in Thailand Defunct political parties in Thailand Political parties disestablished in 2019 Political parties established in 2009