Borwornsak Uwanno | |
|---|---|
| บวรศักดิ์ อุวรรณโณ | |
 | |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand | |
| Assumed office 19 September 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Anutin Charnvirakul |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1954-10-19)October 19, 1954 (age 71) |
| Spouse | Parichat Chumsai (divorced) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Chulalongkorn University Paris-Panthéon-Assas University Paris Nanterre University |
Borwornsak Uwanno (Thai:บวรศักดิ์ อุวรรณโณRTGS: Bowonsak Uwanno, sometimes spelledBowornsak Uwanno; born October 19, 1954) is a Thai legal expert, government official and professor-emeritus of Law atChulalongkorn University. He was a principal member of the1997 constitution Drafting Committee and served as secretary-general of King Prajadhipok's Institute and later cabinet secretary-general underThaksin Shinawatra's government. After the coups d'état of 2006 and 2014, he helped authoring interim constitutions and served in junta-appointed legislative bodies. In 2017 he has chaired the government's Legal Reform Committee. Since September 2025, he has served asDeputy Prime Minister of Thailand underAnutin Charnvirakul.
Borwornsak was born in the southern Thai city ofSongkhla to aThai Chinese family. He is a relative of former deputy prime ministerWissanu Krea-ngam and they lived together in the same house as children.[1] He is divorced from Parichat Chumsai na Ayutthaya, with whom he has two children.
After graduating from the prestigiousTriam Udom Suksa School, Borwornsak studied law atChulalongkorn University, obtaining a "gold-medal" first classhonours degree in 1975 and wasadmitted to the Thai bar the following year. From 1976 he taught as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of hisalma mater. He continued his studies in France, completing a DSU in administrative law fromUniversity of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) in 1979, aDEA and athird-cycle doctorate in general public law fromParis Nanterre University in 1982.
In 1988, Borwornsak became a policy advisor at theSecretariat of the Prime Minister, rising to deputy secretary to the Prime Minister for policy matters the following year. In 1991, he returned to his academic function, teaching administrative law at Chulalongkorn University. Borwornsak was a member of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Constitutional Reform (1993–94) and a member of the Committee of Democracy Development that amended the1992 Constitution.[2] In 1995, he served as the dean of the Faculty of Law.
Borwornsak was the secretary-general of the Constitution Drafting Committee preparing the1997 constitution. In 1998, he completed a course at theNational Defence College of Thailand. From 1999 to 2003, he served as the secretary-general of King Prajadhipok's Institute, a state-run research and education centre for democratic politics and administration.
In 2003, he once again entered government service, becoming secretary-general of the cabinet, the highest-ranking civil servant advising the cabinet on legal affairs. In this position, he succeeded his personal friendWissanu Krea-ngam who had become Deputy Prime Minister inThaksin Shinawatra's government. During the2005–06 Thai political crisis and after the dissolution of parliament, both Wissanu and Borwornsak distanced themselves from the Thaksin administration and resigned their respective government posts.[3] Borwornsak temporarily entered Buddhist monkhood.
After the19 September 2006 military coup, Borwornsak Uwanno, alongside Wissanu Krea-ngam andMeechai Ruchuphan, helped the military junta (Council for Democratic Reform under the Constitutional Monarchy, CDR) drafting apost-coup interim constitution. According to political scientistThitinan Pongsudhirak, Borwornsak and Wissanu could "seemingly write constitutions overnight".[4] Subsequently, Borwornsak became a member of the junta-appointedNational Legislative Assembly.
After the2014 Thai coup d'état, Borwornsak was appointed member of theNational Reform Council (NRC), serving as this body's deputy speaker. At the same time, he chaired the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee.[5] However, in September 2015, the draft was rejected by a majority of the NRC members, resulting in a dissolution of both the drafting committee and the NRC itself. Borwornsak was replaced byMeechai Ruchuphan as chairman of a new Constitution Drafting Committee. In August 2017, Prime MinisterPrayut Chan-o-cha appointed him chairman of the Legal Reform Committee.[6]
Being strongly involved in the drafting of the Thai constitutions of 1997 and 2017 as well as the 2006 interim constitution, Borwornsak is considered to be one of the country's most influential constitutional experts. In the 1997 constitution drafting process, he was a main advocate of the introduction of aConstitutional Court modelled after continental European courts.[7] At the same time he was apprehensive of providing the court with too much power and successfully advised against mentioning it in article 7, a crucial provision for constitutional conflict situations.[8]
As a legal scholar, Borwornsak has published articles justifying the strong role of the monarchy in Thai politics, the severe punishment oflèse majesté as well as the recurrent military coups toppling democratically elected governments in the country. After his retirement from the Thaksin administration in 2006, he published a lengthy article about the "Ten Principles of a Righteous King" and their role in Thai constitutional tradition, lauding the monarch as the "Supreme Arbitrator and Conciliator of the Nation".[9] According to Borwornsak, Thailand'ssovereignty resides in both the monarchy and the people. By granting a constitution in 1932, the King shared his sovereignty with the people. After eachcoup d'état, the sovereignty reverts to the monarch until he signs an interim constitution, whereby he again shares sovereignty with the people.[10]
Political scientistEugénie Mérieau mentions Borwornsak, together with Wissanu Krea-ngam and Meechai Ruchuphan, as a leading example of academics who laid the legal foundations for authoritarian government in Thailand and an exponent of a "legal–military alliance for illiberal constitutionalism".[11]
Borwornsak has received the following decorations and awards in theHonours System of Thailand:
_ribbon.svg)
Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of theOrder of the White Elephant (2000)_ribbon.svg)
Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of theOrder of the Crown of Thailand (1995)_ribbon.svg)
Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of theOrder of the Direkgunabhorn (2004)_ribbon.svg)
Grand Companion (Third Class, Upper Grade) of theOrder of Chula Chom Klao (2004)In addition, following foreign decorations were conferred on him:
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands)
Officer of theNational Order of Merit (France){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help){{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)