2011 Thai general election

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 royal decree 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{{cite web |access-date= 19 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110710182026/http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_inside.php?id=5402 |archive-date= 10 July 2011 |url-status=dead

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.

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• Sent 125 candidates for all party-list seats

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. |access-date= 22 April 2011

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 (อย่าปล่อยสัตว์เข้าสภา). Also prominent: Flee (หนี...) (blue-suited tiger) For (ปะ...) (red-suited crocodile). |access-date= 14 July 2011 |access-date= 14 July 2011 |access-date=1 August 2011

Other

Other PAD supporters, however, formed the New Politics Party whose logo is a yellow sauwastika under a Trairanga rainbow.{{cite web |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230409175106/https://en-gb.facebook.com/NPPPATHUMTHANI |url-status= dead |archive-date= 9 April 2023 |access-date= 14 July 2011

Opinion polls

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%

Preferred party-list

Preferred party

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."

Results by province