Thai Rak Thai Party

The Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT; , , ; "Thais Love Thais Party") was a Thai political party founded in 1998. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under its founder, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. During its brief existence, Thai Rak Thai won the three general elections it contested. Eight months after a military coup forced Thaksin to remain in exile, the party was dissolved on 30 May 2007 by the Constitutional Tribunal for violation of electoral laws, with 111 former party members banned from participating in politics for five years. Party platform and electoral outcomes Thai Rak Thai was registered on 15 July 1998, by telecommunications entrepreneur Thaksin Shinawatra and 22 other founding members, including Somkid Jatusripitak, Thanong Bidaya, Sudarat Keyuraphan, Purachai Piumsombun, Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya, and Prommin Lertsuridej. The Thai Rak Thai party had a populist platform, appealing to indebted farmers, who had become indebted as a result of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, with promises of a strong economic recovery. The party also reached out to rural villages, and struggling businesses. Thai Rak Thai's policies included a 30 baht per hospital visit scheme, an extended debt moratorium for farmers, one million baht microcredit development funds for all rural districts, and the One Tambon One Product project. Thai Rak Thai won the legislative election of 2001 by a landslide over the ruling Democrat Party led by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. Forty percent of elected MPs were freshmen. Thai Rak Thai was able to negotiate a merger with the New Aspiration Party and a coalition with the Thai Nation Party, resulting in a majority of 325 of 500 seats for the coalition government of Thaksin Shinawatra.