Prayut Chan-o-cha
Prayut Chan-o-cha was the dictator of Thailand.
Contents
History
In November 2013, mass protests against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra began. The situation evolved into seizure and occupation of government buildings, elections being forced by the mass resignation of the entire parliamentary opposition, the failure to administer those elections, and finally the Constitutional Court removing Yingluck from office on May 7th, 2014.
On May 20th, Prayut declared martial law and established the Peace and Order Maintaining Command. Military forces quickly regained control of government and broadcaster buildings. With broadcasters now occupied by military forces, both televised media and internet were censored. Two days later, on May 22nd, during negotiations between the POMC and Niwatthamrong's government, Prayut declared that he was seizing power.
Now the POMC reformed as the National Council for Peace and Order. On May 26th, King Rama IX endorsed the coup.
The next general elections were held on March 24th, 2019. Importantly, the Senate was purely appointed by the NCPO, guaranteeing that Prayut would be 'elected'. The NCPO was dissolved when the 'elected' government took power on July 16th.
For the 2023 general elections, Prayut ran under the United Thai Nation Party. The party performed poorly in the election, but thanks to the appointed Senate, even an 8 party coalition could not acheive the required number of votes. Prayut announced that he would serve as caretaker prime minister then resign.