General elections were held in Thailand on 3 July 2011 to elect the 24th House of Representatives.
The protestors of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) or "Red Shirts" who occupied downtown Bangkok in April and May 2010 had demanded new elections. The government's counter-proposal to hold elections on 14 November 2010 was rejected by them and was followed by a violent crackdown when the protestors refused to disperse. Elections were finally announced in May 2011.
With a turnout of 75%, populist Pheu Thai Party won a majority with 265 seats. Its leader Yingluck Shinawatra became the first female prime minister in the history of Thailand. The Democrat Party therefore became the main opposition party with a total of 159 seats.
The election results were acknowledged on 27 July after the Election Commission dealt with a number of objections regarding alleged irregularities. Reelections and recount were ordered to be held in several provinces, due to electoral fraud discovered by the commission. The first session of the National Assembly was convoked on Monday, 1 August at Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall and its state opening was held at the same time.
Following the victory by Pheu Thai Party, several countries, including Germany and Japan, lifted the ban that had once been imposed upon Thaksin Shinawatra, a convicted felon in Thailand.
Background.
After the 2007 Thai general election, the People’s Power Party won a majority of seats in the parliament and became the leading party to set up the new government. Samak Sundaravej, party leader, became the 25th Prime Minister of Thailand. This election victory led to a series of political demonstrations by the royalist Peoples Alliance for Democracy ("Yellow Shirts").
On 2 December 2008 the People’s Power Party had been dissolved by the Constitutional Court over vote buying. The PPP's executive team was banned from politics for 5 years. After the party's dissolution, all of the party's members of parliament had to join another party if they wished to retain their seat. The majority of them transferred to the newly founded Pheu Thai Party. Some representatives defected to the Democrats, which enabled the Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to be elected by parliament as prime minister.
The National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship ("Red Shirts") was a pressure group that opposed the Thai military's alleged influence in the formation of Abhisit's government. It promptly organised several rounds of protests and calls for general elections. Abhisit government finally ordered the military to crack down on the Red Shirts in 2009, resulting in several deaths and hundreds of injuries on both sides.
The Red Shirts launched a new round of protests in mid-2010, again demanding new elections. The 14 March protest, centered around Phan Fah bridge, were the largest in Thai history and were mostly peaceful. In April and May 2010 heavy Red Shirt protests led to violent clashes and the military cracked down on the protest camp in the heart of Bangkok from 13 to 19 May 2010.
Abhisit government's had passed several major amendments on electoral laws on 11 February 2011, transforming the constituency vote from multiple-seats-per-constituency to single-seat-per-constituency, reducing the number of constituency MPs, and increasing the proportional party list MPs. In the previous general elections in 2007, the Democrat Party had lost the constituency vote but won the proportional party list vote.
On 17 February 2011 Prime Minister Abhisit announced that parliament would be dissolved by June. On 11 March 2011, it was further announced that parliament would be dissolved by the first week of May 2011.
Election date.
Previously a proposal had made to hold the election on 14 November 2010, however, this was pushed back following a failure to come to agreement during the crisis.
On 9 May Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced that he would dissolve the lower house of parliament to hold an election on 3 July. King Bhumibol Adulyadej signed a on the dissolution the same day. This motion followed a court ruling the same day that the recently approved electoral laws (to 2007 Constitution §§93–98 involving method of electing members of parliament) are constitutional. Had parliament been dissolved without the ruling, there would have been a possibility of challenging the election date.
Contesting parties.
This election covered 375 single-member constituencies, and 125 under proportional party lists. After registration closed, party leaders participated in a random drawing of the number determining the order in which their parties appear on ballots, numbers which are also used in nationwide campaigning. Yingluck Shinawatra received a major psychological boost when her Pheu Thai party drew the number one; sitting Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party drew number ten.
Campaign issues.
After the drawing, the Election Commission of Thailand distributed handouts nationwide, listing all registered parties by number, name and logo; each party's list of candidates and party platform; modified for each district with campaign portraits of their candidates, again in numerical order. Local campaigners add party numbers to pre-printed campaign posters, or print new ones. In most cases, the numbers are in Red, but in the latter part of the campaign, the Democrat Party (10) changed theirs to Green.
Thaksin and the monarchy.
The Democrat Party promised that with their rule all Thais would live "under the same sky" with all groups being served fairly, whereas a Pheu Thai victory would result in "mob rule" in which social division and violence would spread and some groups could stand above the law. Abhisit referred to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as a poison that had to be detoxified. The Democrats have repeatedly accused Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party of disloyalty to King Bhumibol.
Alliances.
The parties "Bhumjaithai" and "Chartthaipattana" formed a pre-campaign electoral alliance pledging to support whichever party won. The parties were members of Abhisit's coalition.
Jailing of opposition leaders.
Red Shirt leaders Jatuporn Prompan and Nisit Sinthuprai had been jailed for months on charges of violating national security and insulting King Bhumibol following the 2010 crackdown on the Red Shirts. They had been released on bail, but the bail was revoked immediately after Abhisit announced the 2011 elections. They were not allowed to vote in the elections.
Celebrities and political heirs.
Abhisit unveiled a slate of candidates highlighted by 30 celebrities and heirs of political families, including Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, heiress of the Singha Beer fortune and former staff member of Abhisit's secretariat office. She had earlier resigned after she was caught handing out nude calendars to secretariat office staff.
The Chartthaipattana fielded four sports celebrities as candidates: former national team football player Piyapong Pue-on, tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan, Olympic taekwondo bronze medallist Yaowapa Boorapolchai, and former rugby player Apirak Areemitr.
Minimum wage.
Abhisit promised to increase the minimum wage by 25% if the Democrat Party won the election.
The Pheu Thai Party promised to increase the minimum wage to 300 baht per day. Abhisit had promised to raise the minimum wage to 300 baht prior to the elections, but changed his mind after pressure from employers.
Angry Man.
"Rak Thailand Party" of Chuwit Kamolvisit conducted a vigorous "Angry Man" campaign pledging to be in opposition to whichever party won.
NO campaign.
"For Heaven and Earth Party" (political arm of the Santi Asoke Buddhist sect) supported the NO campaign of some PAD supporters, which featured proverbial animals in color-coded suits as non-human electoral candidates, most bearing the slogan: "Don’t let animals enter parliament" (). Also prominent: "Flee" () (blue-suited tiger) "For" () (red-suited crocodile). Chamlong Srimuang, a key supporter of the "vote-no" movement, did not vote "no" after all. In fact, he did not vote at all; his and his wife’s names were not on the list of eligible voters as they had voted in advance in the previous election but did not realise that they had to inform election officials that they did not want to do so in this one.
Other.
Other PAD supporters, however, formed the "New Politics Party" whose logo is a yellow sauwastika under a Trairanga rainbow.
Opinion polling.
Results of a Suan Dusit Rajabhat University poll (4–18 June): Pheu Thai 51.55%; Democrat 34.04%; Bhum Jai Thai 3.43%; Rak Prathet Thai 2.48%; Chart Thai Pattana 1.60%; against all 1.41%; undecided 2.38%
23–28 May: Pheu Thai 43.16%; Democrat 37.45%; Bhum Jai Thai 2.64%; Chart Thai Pattana 2.46%; Rak Prathet Thai 1.43%; others 4.42%; undecided 7.08; rest would not vote – Democrats strongest in Southern Region (65.89%), Pheu Thai in Northern (73.17%)
19–22 May: Pheu Thai 41.22%; Democrat 36.88%; Bhum Jai Thai 3.88%; Chart Thai Pattana 3.20%; Rak Prathet Thai 1.59%
Conduct.
Violence.
Pracha Prasopdee, ex-MP for Samut Prakan Province who had won all five of the previous elections, was shot in the back on the night of 10 May. Pracha had been a member of the Thai Rak Thai, Peoples Power, and Pheu Thai parties.
Overseas and early voting.
In this election more eligible voters turned up to vote. The number of Thais registered to vote from abroad is 147,330, the equivalent of just over half the population of Mae Hong Son Province and soared from 90,205 in 2008 – in Singapore the figure has surpassed 10,000 while in the United Kingdom the number has doubled from 2,296 to 4,775. Early voting arranged on Sunday (26 June 2011) only while prior elections arranged on Saturday and Sunday. Around 2.6 million people, including 1.07 million in Bangkok turned up to vote; however, many potential voters were unable to vote due to large crowds.
Results.
Exit polls indicated that Pheu Thai had won the election outright, winning a majority of seats.
According to preliminary results Pheu Thai won 265 seats (204 constituency-based + 61 party-list), Democrats 159 (115 + 44), Bhumjai Thai 34 (29 + 5), Chartthaipattana 19 (15 + 4), Palung Chon 7 (6 + 1), Chart Pattana Puea Pandin 7 (5 + 2), Love Thailand 4 (all party-list), Matubhum 2 (1 + 1), New Democrat 1 (party-list) and Mahachon one party-list seat. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has already conceded the victory of Puea Thai Party and congratulated Ms. Shinawatra as the designated Prime Minister.
According to preliminary figures from the Electoral Commission the voter turnout was at 65.99%.
Following the provisional results, Ms. Shinawatra said that "Puea Thai had already reached an agreement with one smaller party, Chart Thai Pattana, about joining a coalition, and was in negotiations with others."
Aftermath.
Acknowledgement of election result.
After the election was held on 3 July, the next procedure is that the Election Commission acknowledges the election result within thirty days from the election date in order that Abhisit Vejjajaiva, Caretaker Prime Minister, would enact a royal decree convoking the House of Representatives to have the new President of the House, Vice President of the House and Prime Minister selected respectively, and the President of the House would then advice and consent the King to appoint a new Prime Minister according to the resolution of the House.
The Election Commission met to consider the election result in the afternoon of 12 July. The meeting was held until nightfall. More than fifty Red-Shirt members gathered in front of the Election Commission Office awaiting the outcome, with strict control of the police officers. That night, three hundred and fifty candidates were acknowledged by the Election Commission as the members of the House, but not including Yingluck Shinawatra, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Nattawut Saikua by cause of a great number of objections pending consideration. The remainders, that is, one hundred and forty two elected candidates, are to be acknowledged by 20 July, said the Election Commission. Yingluck described the postponement as part of a "normal process" for the commission.
On 19 July, both Yingluck and Abhisit were acknowledged as the members of the House. On 27 July, the acknowledgement extended to further ninety four elected candidates. Now and eventually, the number acknowledged sufficed to constitute the House. This, however, did not include Jatuporn Prompan whom the Election Commission declared to have lost the suffrage due to failure to vote in both the previous and the present elections. The Constitution requires that a member of the House must possess the suffrage, and also prescribes that a person failing to vote in an election loses the suffrage but regains it once he votes in the next election.
The Election Commission's announcements of the acknowledgement were published in the Government Gazette as follows:
Disqualifications.
Five red cards were expected during balloting in Sukhothai Province, Chaiyaphum Province, Maha Sarakham Province, Sisaket Province and Buriram Province in reference to campaign fraud. There have been allegations of massive electoral fraud against third-place finisher Bhumjaithai Party that could potentially lead to the party dissolution by the Constitutional Court
On 21 July, the Election Commission