| Thailand |
This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
Judiciary
|
|
Related issues
|
|
Other countries · Atlas |
Thai Nation Party (Thai: พรรคชาติไทย Phak Chat Thai), also known as Chart Thai, was a conservative political party in Thailand. It was dissolved by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on December 2, 2008, along with the People's Power Party and the Matchima party, for having violated electoral laws in the Thai general election, 2007. Thereafter, most MPs founded the Chartthaipattana Party (Thai Nation Development Party), which became the Thai Nation Party's successor.
In the Thai General Elections of 1988, the Thai Nation Party won the most votes, resulting in its late leader Chatichai Choonhavan becoming the prime minister.
In the 2001 elections, the Thai Nation Party won 41 out of 500 seats and formed a coalition government with the largest party, the populist Thai Rak Thai, formerly led and co-founded by tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra. The party lost some seats in the 2005 elections, despite the support of the popular politician Chuwit Kamolvisit. The party won 11.4% of the popular vote and 27 out of 500 seats. Due to policy conflicts the Chart Thai party subsequently defected from the coalition with the Thai Rak Thai party. The party, along with the 2 other largest opposition parties, boycotted the elections of April 2006 hoping to make it impossible for a new Thai Rak Thai-led government to form.
The Thai Nation Party participated in the 2007 general election and won 8.87% of the vote (37 of 480 seats), coming in third after the People Power Party (led by former Thai Rak Thai members) and the Democrats. In January 2008, the Thai Nation Party joined the PPP and five others in the six-party coalition government.[1]
Along with the coalition members People Power Party and Matchima, the Thai Nation Party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court on December 2, 2008, with party executives banned from Thai politics for five years, amid charges of electoral fraud during the 2007 election. The non-executive MPs of the parties were given 60 days to defect to new or existing parties. MPs from the Chart Thai and Matchima parties announced that they would stick with MPs from the PPP party in forming a new government, but failed to do so due to the party dissolution.[2][3] Thereafter, most former Chart Thai MPs and members convened to found the Thai Nation Development Party, which is part of the current coalition government.
|
||||||||||||||||||||