Thailand legislative election, October 2006
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After Thailand's April 2006 elections were declared invalid by the Constitutional Court, it was decided that new elections would be held on 15 October 2006. Due to delays in the nomination of a new election committee the election were likely to be moved to November, but then cancelled indefinitely after the military's overthrow of the Thai government.


Background

The April elections were boycotted by the major opposition parties (the Democrat Party, the Mahachon Party, and Chart Thai Party). The results of the April elections, in which the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party won by a landslide, were disqualified by the Constitutional Court due to the placement of voting booths. On 30 May, the Cabinet endorsed an Election Commission proposal to hold a new round of elections on 15 October 2006. The new election date allowed politicians 9 days time (by 8 June) to switch parties. The Thai constitution requires politicians to maintain their party membership for 90 days before being eligible to register as election candidates. The election date was affirmed by the signing of the royal decree by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on July 20, 2006.


Political Events Prior to the Election


Pressure for the Election Commission to resign

The Constitutional Court and Opposition parties pressured the Election Commission to resign due to the disqualification of the April election. However, Commission head Vasana Puemlarp and the two other remaining commissioners refused to resign. The Criminal Court later jailed the three Commissioners who refused to resign, forcing the appointment of a new set of Commissioners.


Defections and establishment of new parties


From Thai Rak Thai

Rumors were rampant prior to the election that many MPs from the ruling Thai Rak Thai would defect. Former TRT party-list MPs Likhit Dhiravegin and Sarit Santimethanedol left to establish the Phalang Phaendin party ("Strength of the Land"), claiming that 40 TRT Wang Nam Yen defectors would follow them. However, as of 5 June, no other MPs defected. Wang Nam Yom faction member
Banyin Tangpakorn Bayin is a village in Shan State, Taunggyi District, Hsi Hseng Township. This village has a police station, a hospital, and a high school. There are two armies, no (425) and (426) which are located in the front of the village. They are built on the ...
was quoted as saying that no more than 5 members wanted to defect.
Sanoh Thienthong Sanoh Thienthong ( th, เสนาะ เทียนทอง, born 1 April 1934) is a Thai politician. He is a Member of Parliament for the Pheu Thai Party list. Before he joined the Pheu Thai Party in 2011, he was the leader of the minor Prac ...
, head of the TRT's powerful rebel Wang Nam Yen faction, had resigned from the TRT in February, along with his wife, Uraiwan (then Culture Minister). He later established the
Pracharaj Party The Royal People Party ( th, พรรคประชาราช, ) is a populist political party in Thailand. The party was established and registered at the Electoral Commission on February 10, 2006, by Sanoh Thienthong, former Thai Rak Thai p ...
. Joining Sanoh in resigning from the TRT was party-list MP Winai Sompong. Sora-at Klinpratoom, another influential Wang Nam Yen member, resigned from the ICT Ministry, but did not resign from the TRT party. Outspoken businessman and founder of Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI)
Prachai Leophai-ratana TPI Polene Public Company Limited is Thailand's Second largest cement manufacturer. It also manufactures petrochemicals, including low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene-vinyl acetate Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), also known as poly (ethy ...
also joined the
Pracharaj Party The Royal People Party ( th, พรรคประชาราช, ) is a populist political party in Thailand. The party was established and registered at the Electoral Commission on February 10, 2006, by Sanoh Thienthong, former Thai Rak Thai p ...
as its secretary-general. Pramual Rujanasseri, Boonthueng Pholphanit and Chucheep Harnsawat were appointed as deputy party leaders. Former Deputy Environment Minister
Prapat Panyachatraksa Prapat Panyachatraksa was a student demonstrator during the violent 1973 democracy movement during which he confronted an M-60 armed soldier armed with just a piece of wood, for which he was popularly nicknamed "Ai Karn Yao" (after the hero in th ...
(nicknamed "Kan Yao" for his heroism during the pro-democracy protests of 1973) had resigned from the TRT during the height of anti-Thaksin protests in March 2006. As of May 2006, members of the Wang Bua Ban, Wang Phayanak, and Ban Rim Nam factions of the TRT party declared that they would not defect. Phayao MP Aruni Chamnanya was quoted as saying "I am not a politician who sells myself by party hopping."


From Mahachon

Tun Jintavej and Chatchawan Chompudaeng, members of the Mahachon Party, defected to the Chart Thai Party.
Anek Laothammathat ''Anek'' () is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Anubhav Sinha who also co-produced it with T-Series. The film revolves around a government police secret agent official (played by Khurrana), who is sent ...
, the former Mahachon Party leader, joined the new
Maharaj Party Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire ...
.


From Chart Thai

Former Chart Thai MP for Ratchaburi, Vijai Wattanaprasit, moved to the
Pracharaj Party The Royal People Party ( th, พรรคประชาราช, ) is a populist political party in Thailand. The party was established and registered at the Electoral Commission on February 10, 2006, by Sanoh Thienthong, former Thai Rak Thai p ...
. Former Chat Thai MP for Chanthaburi Province Khomkhai Pollabutr moved to the Democrat Party.


From Democrat

Mahachon Party leader Sanan Kachornprasart claimed that former Democrat secretary-general Pradit Pattaraprasit had decided to join Mahachon and contest the election. However, Pradit, who had earlier resigned from the Democrat party, denied Sanan's claim.


Other

The
New Aspiration Party The New Aspiration Party (''Phak Khwam Wang Mai th, พรรคความหวังใหม่'') is a political party in Thailand. The party was established in 1990 by General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh after his retirement as Commander-In-Chie ...
, led by Chingchai Mongcoltam, planned to merge with Maharaj.New parties sprouting already
Outgoing Senators Kraisak Choonhavan and
Karun Sai-ngam The Karun ( fa, کارون, ) is the Iranian river with the highest water flow, and its only navigable river. It is long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as th ...
also joined Maharaj. Outgoing Senator Pichet Pattanachot joined the Democrat Party and plans to contest Nakhon Ratchasima's Constituency 1. The political affiliation of former Deputy Prime Minister and TRT co-founder Purachai Piumsombun was the target of much political rumor. Purachai had earlier retired from politics, but his popularity led many to believe that he would re-enter politics under a different party. As Deputy Prime Minister, Purachai had led a controversial "social order" campaign that made him highly popular among many Bangkokians. The People's Alliance for Democracy, which had led many anti-Thaksin protests from 2005 to 2006, established a new party, the Mass Party. However, they vowed not to field candidates for election. "If we field MP candidates, we will be trapped in vicious circles of money politics," said Somkiat Pongpaibun, a PAD leader. Somkiat was joined by former Palang Dharma Party leader Chaiwat Sinsuwong and the Campaign for Popular Democracy's
Pipop Thongchai Pipob Thongchai ( th, พิภพ ธงไชย) is a non-governmental organization leader who advocates a wide range of issues. He has been active since he was a college student, when he was secretary of the University Student Federation of T ...
. Khon Kaen caretaker Senator Rabiebrat Pongpanit co-founded the
Thai Women party Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode b ...
.


Election platforms and campaigning


Democrat party

On 29 April, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva promised an "agenda for people", with education as the main focus. He also vowed not to privatize basic utilities like electricity and water supply and also to nationalize those enterprises which had previously been privatized. However, he later backtracked and promised not to renationalize the oil and gas company PTT. He also promised that core Thai Rak Thai populist policies like the 30-baht universal healthcare scheme, the Village Fund and the SML scheme would not be cancelled but improved. He later promised that Thaksin's popular 30-baht universal healthcare scheme would be abolished immediately, and replaced with a system where access to medical services would be totally free. He also said that all future Democrat MPs will have to declare their assets and possible involvement in any private companies (under Thai law, only those who take a government position have to declare their assets). In addition, MPs, Government ministers, and their families would also be required to disclose benefits they received from business connections. He also proposed a 10 million THB limit to the amount that any individual could contribute to a political party in one year. He also proposed to reduce the number of votes necessary to force a vote of no confidence to just one-tenth of the House. Abhisit also promised many populist policies, including: *Providing quality universal healthcare for no cost. The Thaksin-originated universal healthcare scheme provides coverage for 30 Baht (approx. US$0.9 ) per visit. *Providing free education, textbooks, milk and supplemental foods for kindergartens *Increasing the minimum wage On the Democrat Party's 60th Anniversary dinner, Abhisit raised over THB 200 Million in funds from attendants. He outlined several energy policies including: *Increasing dividend payments from PTT and using the funds to repay Oil Fund debts *Allowing
EGAT The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) ( th, การไฟฟ้าฝ่ายผลิตแห่งประเทศไทย; ) is a state enterprise, managed by the Ministry of Energy, responsible for electric power ge ...
to bear the burden of rising fuel prices, since a non SET-listed EGAT would have no minimum return on investment. On 13 July 2006, facing escalating violence in the South, Abhisit promised to solve the insurgency by making the problems in the deep South a public agenda. In late July 2006, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva appeared on two television advertisements. The first tried to portray Abhisit as a family man, while the second suggested that people cope with the high cost of living by cutting down on energy consumption. Two additional advertisements were scheduled to air in August, the third focusing on free education, and the fourth on free health care. Prime Minister Thaksin commended the spots, and Abhisit claimed spots were well received. However, pollsters at ABAC Poll and the BU Poll Centre doubted that the spots would impress grassroots voters.


Thai Rak Thai party

The Thai Rak Thai party promised to expand Bangkok's
mass transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
network with ten new electric train routes covering 300 km. The new network would have a flat cost of just 15 THB per ride. The TRT also proposed building home units along the new lines. The new rail networks would be built through direct government investment, rather than through private concessions.


Predictive measures


Polls

A nationwide poll conducted in mid-July found that 49% of respondents would vote for Thai Rak Thai, while 42.5% preferred one of the oppisiton parties. 84.3% of those surveyed said they would vote in the poll; of those, 29.2% said they would not vote for any political party, marking instead the "no vote" box, indicating
abstention Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with ...
. A Bangkok poll in conducted mid-August found that 38% of respondents would vote for Thai Rak Thai, with 24% voting for the Democrats, 10% voting for Chart Thai, and 6% for other parties.


Other elections

In the 30 July Bangkok Metropolitan Administration council elections, the Democrats won 35 out of 57 seats in the Bangkok city council, with 18 seats going to TRT. The Democrats also swept 176 out of 255 district council seats in the Bangkok district council elections held on the same day, while Thai Rak Thai won 71 seats and independent candidates won eight seats.


2006 Thai coup d'état

On 19 September 2006, less than a month before the scheduled elections, members of the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is the country's first coup in 15 years, though the practice used to be commonplace, with 17 having occurred between 1932 and 1991. Junta leader General
Sonthi Boonyaratglin Sonthi Boonyaratglin ( th, สนธิ บุญยรัตกลิน, , ; born 2 October 1946) is a Thai former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army and former head of the Council for National Security, the military junta that ruled the ...
announced the abrogation of the constitution, declared martial law, and dissolved Cabinet, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court. He promised that a civilian Prime Minister would be appointed within two weeks, but that a new constitution would be drafted before holding new elections a year in the future.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 10 Thai general election 2006 in Thailand 2006 elections in Asia Elections in Thailand Cancelled elections