= Thaksin Shinawatra = '''Thaksin Shinawatra''' was [[Thailand/PrimeMinisters|prime minister of Thailand]]. <> ---- == History == Thaksin founded the [[Thailand/ThaiRakThaiParty|Thai Rak Thai Party]] in 1998, and led it to a landslide victory in the January 6th, 2001 general election. He became prime minister on January 9th. It was revealed by '''National Counter Corruption Commission''' charges that Thaksin had hid stock assets by transferring ownership. The '''Constitutional Court''' found in his favor, but the scandal sparked mass protests. Thaksin called for snap elections on April 2nd, 2006. Opposition parties signalled their intent to abstain from the election. As a result, in many southern districts the non-abstaining vote was too low to certify results (as 20% turnout is required). Both [[Thailand/BhumibolAdulyadej|King Rama IX]] and the Constitutional Court declared the election invalid. New elections were planned in October. On September 19th, 2006, the royal army seized power in a coup. Thaksin was attending the [[WorldHistory/UnitedNations/GeneralAssembly|United Nations General Assembly]] in [[UnitedStates/NewYorkCity|New York City]] at the time. Thaksin returned to Thailand only on February 28th, 2008 to face charges brought against him by the coup leaders. He was allowed to briefly travel to the [[UnitedKingdom|UK]], but was barred from subsequent travels. He violated the terms of his bail to attend the 2008 Olympics in [[China/Beijing|Beijing]]. There he began appealing for political asylum to a number of countries, and he has not since returned to Thailand. ---- CategoryRicottone