2014 Thai Military Coup
The Thai army took power in May 2014 for the twelfth time since 1932. The crisis it ended had been running for eight years. Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications billionaire elected in 2001 on cheap health care and rural credit, had won every election since with the votes of the north and north-east and had been overthrown by the army in 2006; parties associated with him then won the elections of 2007 and 2011, and were removed by the courts. The division was regional and social — a rural and provincial electorate that could deliver majorities against a Bangkok middle class, royalist establishment and military that could not accept them. Yingluck Shinawatra's government proposed an amnesty bill in late 2013 that would have covered her exiled brother, and the opposition took to the streets and blocked the February 2014 election, which was then annulled. The constitutional court removed her in May for an improper transfer of an official. The army declared martial law on 20 May, summoned both sides to talks on the 22nd, and arrested them in the room. General Prayut Chan-o-cha became prime minister, banned political gatherings, detained hundreds for attitude adjustment, and wrote a constitution with an appointed senate that votes for the prime minister. He remained in office after an election in 2019. The lèse-majesté law, carrying up to fifteen years, was used against record numbers of people, including students who began openly criticising the monarchy in 2020. Prayut's constitution is the country's twentieth since 1932, which is the clearest single measure of what has and has not been settled. Thaksin returned from exile in 2023, was sentenced, was pardoned within hours, and his daughter became prime minister the following year.
- Year: 2014 CE
- Category: Political
