2011 Thai general election

← 2007 3 July 2011 2014 →
All 500 seats in theHouse of Representatives 251 seats needed for a majority
Registered	46,939,549
Turnout	75.03% ( 2.63pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Yingluck Shinawatra Abhisit Vejjajiva Chavarat Charnvirakul Party Pheu Thai Democrat Bhumjaithai Last election 233 seats[a] 165 seats Did not exist Seats won 265 159 34 Seat change 32 6 New Constituency vote 14,272,771 10,138,045 3,523,331 % and swing 43.02% ( 6.93pp) 30.55% ( 0.94pp) 10.62% (New) Party-list vote 15,752,470 11,435,640 11,435,640 % and swing 47.03% ( 7.19pp) 34.14% ( 5.09pp) 3.83% (New)
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Abhisit Vejjajiva Democrat Prime Minister-designate Yingluck Shinawatra Pheu Thai

General elections were held inThailand on 3 July 2011 to elect the24th House of Representatives.^[1]

The protestors of theUnited Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) or "Red Shirts" whooccupied 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 aviolent crackdown when the protestors refused to disperse.^[2][3] Elections were finally announced in May 2011.

With a turnout of 75%,^[4]populistPheu Thai Party won a majority with 265 seats.^[5] Its leaderYingluck Shinawatra became the firstfemale prime minister in the history of Thailand.^[6] TheDemocrat Party therefore became the mainopposition party with a total of 159 seats.^[5]

The election results were acknowledged on 27 July after theElection Commission dealt with a number of objections regarding alleged irregularities.^[7]Reelections andrecount were ordered to be heldin several provinces, due toelectoral fraud discovered by the commission.^[8][9][10] Thefirst session of the National Assembly was convoked on Monday, 1 August atAnanta Samakhom Throne Hall and itsstate opening was held at the same time.^[11]

Following the victory by Pheu Thai Party, several countries, including Germany^[12] and Japan,^[13] lifted the ban that had once been imposed upon Thaksin Shinawatra, a convicted felon in Thailand.

After the2007 Thai general election, thePeople’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 25thPrime Minister of Thailand. This election victory led to a series of political demonstrations by the royalistPeoples Alliance for Democracy ("Yellow Shirts").

On 2 December 2008 the People’s Power Party had been dissolved by theConstitutional 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 foundedPheu Thai Party. Some representatives defected to the Democrats, which enabled the Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to be elected by parliament as prime minister.

TheNational 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.^[14] In April and May 2010 heavyRed Shirt protests led to violent clashes and the militarycracked 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.^[15]

On 17 February 2011 Prime Minister Abhisit announced that parliament would be dissolved by June.^[16] On 11 March 2011, it was further announced that parliament would be dissolved by the first week of May 2011.^[17]

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. KingBhumibol Adulyadej signed aroyal 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^[18]) are constitutional. Had parliament been dissolved without the ruling, there would have been a possibility of challenging the election date.^[19]

This election covered 375 single-memberconstituencies, and 125 underproportional party lists.^[20] After registration closed,party leaders participated in arandom drawing of the number determining the order in which their parties appear onballots, numbers which are also used in nationwidecampaigning. 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.

* Sent 125 candidates for all party-list seats

After the drawing, theElection Commission of Thailand distributed handouts nationwide, listing all registered parties by number, name and logo; each party's list of candidates andparty 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.

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.^[34] The Democrats have repeatedly accused Thaksin and the Pheu Thai Party of disloyalty to King Bhumibol.^[35]

The partiesBhumjaithai andChartthaipattana formed a pre-campaign electoral alliance pledging to support whichever party won.^[36] The parties were members of Abhisit's coalition.

Red Shirt leadersJatuporn 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.^[37]

Abhisit unveiled a slate of candidates highlighted by 30 celebrities and heirs of political families, includingChitpas Bhirombhakdi, heiress of theSingha Beer fortune and former staff member of Abhisit's secretariat office.^[38] She had earlier resigned after she was caught handing outnude calendars to secretariat office staff.

The Chartthaipattana fielded four sports celebrities as candidates: formernational team football playerPiyapong Pue-on, tennis playerParadorn Srichaphan, Olympictaekwondo bronze medallistYaowapa Boorapolchai, and former rugby player ApirakAreemitr.

Abhisit promised to increase theminimum wage by 25% if the Democrat Party won the election.^[39]

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.^[40]

Rak Thailand Party ofChuwit Kamolvisit conducted a vigorous "Angry Man" campaign pledging to be in opposition to whichever party won.^[41]

For Heaven and Earth Party (political arm of theSanti Asoke Buddhist sect) supported theNO campaign of somePAD supporters, which featuredproverbial animals in color-coded suits asnon-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).^[42][43]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.^[44]

Other PAD supporters, however, formed theNew Politics Party whose logo is a yellowsauwastika under aTrairanga rainbow.^[45]

Results of a Suan DusitRajabhat 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%^[46]

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%)^[47]

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%^[48]

Pracha Prasopdee, ex-MP forSamut 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.^[49]

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 ofMae 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.^[50]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 inBangkok turned up to vote; however, many potential voters were unable to vote due to large crowds.^[51]

Exit polls indicated that Pheu Thai had won the election outright, winning a majority of seats.^[52][53]

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.^[5] Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has already conceded the victory of Puea Thai Party and congratulated Ms. Shinawatra as the designated Prime Minister.^[6]

According to preliminary figures from the Electoral Commission the voter turnout was at 65.99%.^[4]

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."

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Pheu Thai Party	15,752,470	47.03	61	14,272,771	43.02	204	265	+32
	Democrat Party	11,435,640	34.14	44	10,138,045	30.55	115	159	–6
	Bhumjaithai Party	1,281,652	3.83	5	3,523,331	10.62	29	34	New
	Rak Thailand Party	998,668	2.98	4				4	New
	Chartthaipattana Party	907,106	2.71	4	1,534,027	4.62	15	19	–18
	Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party	495,762	1.48	2	1,258,464	3.79	5	7	–26
	Rak Santi Party	284,100	0.85	1	138,758	0.42	0	1	New
	Matubhum Party	251,674	0.75	1	369,526	1.11	1	2	New
	Phalang Chon Party	178,042	0.53	1	246,879	0.74	6	7	New
	Mahachon Party	133,752	0.40	1				1	+1
	New Democracy Party	125,753	0.38	1	992	0.00	0	1	New
	Social Action Party	81,824	0.24	0	114,978	0.35	0	0	New
	Thaen Khun Phaendin Party	57,801	0.17	0	2,336	0.01	0	0	New
	Mass Power Party	57,793	0.17	0	4,290	0.01	0	0	New
	Thai Por-Pieng Party	49,065	0.15	0	1,144	0.00	0	0	New
	Sport Party of Thailand	39,778	0.12	0	13,148	0.04	0	0	New
	Prachatham Party	38,748	0.12	0	26,229	0.08	0	0	New
	Farmer Network of Thailand Party	36,931	0.11	0	20,133	0.06	0	0	0
	Thai Citizen Party	35,475	0.11	0	3,728	0.01	0	0	0
	New Politics Party	34,883	0.10	0	3,080	0.01	0	0	New
	Liberal Party	34,111	0.10	0	2,791	0.01	0	0	New
	Thai Pen Thai Party	27,193	0.08	0	1,897	0.01	0	0	0
	Maharatpattana Party	22,221	0.07	0				0	New
	New Aspiration Party	21,195	0.06	0	31,246	0.09	0	0	0
	Puen Kasetthai Party	15,606	0.05	0	13,580	0.04	0	0	0
	Thai Party for Thai People	15,071	0.04	0	734	0.00	0	0	New
	Prachachon Chow Thai Party	13,010	0.04	0				0	New
	Civil Peace Party	12,912	0.04	0	20,084	0.06	0	0	New
	For Heaven and Earth Party	12,823	0.04	0	13,674	0.04	0	0	New
	Dumrongthai Party	12,489	0.04	0	1,811	0.01	0	0	0
	Kasikorn Thai Party	11,268	0.03	0				0	0
	Chartsamuccee Party	9,601	0.03	0	1,041	0.00	0	0	0
	Thaipensuk Party	9,132	0.03	0	1,561	0.00	0	0	New
	Parung Chownathai Party	7,332	0.02	0	260	0.00	0	0	New
	Better Life Party	6,882	0.02	0	92	0.00	0	0	New
	Asamatupoom Party	6,692	0.02	0				0	New
	Bamrungmueang Party	6,568	0.02	0				0	New
	Rakpandin Party	6,501	0.02	0				0	New
	Palung Sungkom Thai Party	4,861	0.01	0	91	0.00	0	0	New
	Thai Sangsun Party	2,842	0.01	0	39	0.00	0	0	New
	Thailand's Future				208	0.00	0	0	New
Blank votes		958,213	2.86	–	1,419,148	4.28	–	–	–
Total		33,493,440	100.00	125	33,180,116	100.00	375	500	+20
Valid votes		33,493,440	95.10		33,180,116	94.21
Invalid votes		1,726,768	4.90		2,040,261	5.79
Total votes		35,220,208	100.00		35,220,377	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		46,939,549	75.03		46,939,549	75.03
Source:Election Commission

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 newPresident of the House, Vice President of the House and Prime Minister selected respectively, and the President of the House would thenadvice and consent the King to appoint a new prime minister according to the resolution of the House.^[54]

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 andNattawut Saikua by cause of a great number of objections pending consideration.^[54] The remainders, that is, one hundred and forty two elected candidates, are to be acknowledged by 20 July, said the Election Commission.^[55] Yingluck described the postponement as part of a "normal process" for the commission.^[56]

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 includeJatuporn Prompan whom the Election Commission declared to have lost thesuffrage 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.^[7]

The Election Commission's announcements of the acknowledgement were published in the Government Gazette as follows:

Five red cards were expected during balloting inSukhothai Province,Chaiyaphum Province,Maha Sarakham Province,Sisaket Province andBuriram Province in reference to campaign fraud.^[57] There have been allegations of massiveelectoral fraud against third-place finisher Bhumjaithai Party that could potentially lead to the party dissolution by the Constitutional Court^[58]

On 21 July, the Election Commission ordered the re-elections to be held in Sukhothai province andNong Khai Province.^[8][9] It also ordered arecount inYala Province.^[10]

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Proclamation on Appointment of Prime Minister dated 5 August 2011

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Proclamation on Appointment of Ministers dated 9 August 2011

Abhisit enacted on 29 July theRoyal Decree Convoking the National Assembly, BE 2554 (2011), by which the National Assembly, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, convened on Monday, 1 August 2011 atAnanta Samakhom Throne Hall. Thestate ceremony of opening the National Assembly was presided over by Crown PrinceVajiralongkorn instead ofhis aged father who has been confined in hospital for so long.^[11] In this first joint session of the National Assembly,Somsak Kiatsuranont has been elected as the President of the House of Representatives (ex officioPresident of the National Assembly of Thailand); several other members have been selected as the Vice Presidents of the House.^[59] The first separate session of the House of Representatives was held in the morning of 5 August to select a new prime minister.^[60] In which 296 of the 500 members of parliament voted to approve the premiership of Yingluck Shinawatra, three disapproved, and 197 abstained. Four Democrat lawmakers were absent.^[61][62] Somsak Kiatsuranont, President of the National Assembly,advised and consented King Bhumibol Adulyadej to appoint Yingluck Prime Minister on 8 August.^[63] The Proclamation on her appointment has taken retroactive effect from 5 August.^[64]

Yingluck has set up her Council of Ministers on 9 August. She and her Ministers were sworn in on 10 August.^[65] They must then complete addressing their administrative policy to the National Assembly. According to the Constitution, the address must be made within fifteen days from the effective date of the Proclamation on Yingluck's appointment.^[66]

By-elections were held to replace disqualified MPs. For Bangkok's 12th electoral district (which covered most ofDon Mueang District, Pheu Thai MPKarun Hosakul was disqualified and banned for five years for defaming rival candidateTankhun Jitt-itsara and the Democrat Party. A by-election was held to replace him.^[67] Tankhun Jitt-itsara re-ran as the Democrat candidate,^[68] whileYuranunt Pamornmontri, a party list MP, was chosen as Pheu Thai's candidate. He then resigned from his House seat on 27 May 2013 to run for the vacant seat.^[69] Tankhun won the by-election, resulting in a Democrat gain for the constituency.

ThaiWikisource has original text related to this article:

Order of the Supreme Court of Justice No. 4494/2554 [on a petition for suspending the general election on 3 July 2011, and for restoring absolutism to the King]

On 4 July, Abhisit Vejjajiva stepped down as the leader of the Democrat Party, as he had promised in the case of a defeat of his party.^[70] The Chartthaipattana Party, Chart Pattana Puea Pandin Party, Phalang Chon Party and Mahachon Party agreed to join acoalition government led by the Pheu Thai Party which would have 299 seats in the new House of Representatives.^[58] Actingdefense minister GeneralPrawit Wongsuwan declared that the armed forces would accept the results and "allow politicians to work it out" without any interference, while theCommander-in-Chief of theRoyal Thai Army, GeneralPrayuth Chan-ocha, pledged not to make any comments during the process of government formation.^[71]

TheCambodianforeign ministerHor Namhong congratulated the winners of the election, stating "We cannot hide that we are happy with the Pheu Thai Party's victory" and expressed confidence that, under the new government, theCambodian–Thai border dispute would be settled.^[72] Thai stock markets reacted positively at the news of the Pheu Thai victory, rising by 5% on the first trading day after the election. The markets viewed the Pheu Thai's strong mandate as an opportunity for short-term political stability.^[73]

On 10 July, Lamian Yusuk, an 80-year-oldRayong inhabitant and supporter of the Democrat Party, committed suicide by consumingherbicide after the party's poor performance. Many Democrat members of the House of Representatives attended her funeral. Abhisit, who did not attend, later offered condolences to Yusuk's relatives by phone. Yusuk's death attracted both positive and negative criticism of the deceased.^[74]

The Election Commission's eventual acknowledgment of election results caused theThai stock market to be rise by 3.67 on 28 July. Stock market assistant director Thirada Chaiyuenyong said that the shares index for that day was quite strong, comparing to regional indexes.^[75] Many States, including Germany^[12] and Japan,^[13] also lifted the ban on entry which has been imposed on Thaksin Shinawatra during the regime of Abhisit.

• Michael H. Nelson (2012),Thailand's Election of July 3, 2011: An Overview, Bangkok: King Prajadhipok's Institute
• Michael H. Nelson (2013),The Democrat and Phuea Thai Parties in Thailand's 2011 Elections. Thaksin Shinawatra Returns to Power(PDF), City University of Hongkong^{[permanent dead link]}
• Aim Sinpeng; Erik Martinez Kuhonta (December 2012). "From the Street to the Ballot Box: The July 2011 Elections and the Rise of Social Movements in Thailand".Contemporary Southeast Asia.34 (3):389–415.doi:10.1355/cs34-3d.

• Thailand's July Election: Understanding the Outcome, Q&A with Catharin Dalpino (July 2011)
• Thai election 2011 collected coverage atAljazeera
• General Election 2011 collected coverage at theBangkok Post

• General elections in Thailand
• 2011 elections in Asia
• 2011 in Thailand

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