Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra was prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. He was overthrown in the 2006 coup.
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History
Thaksin founded the 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 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 United Nations General Assembly in New York City at the time.
In Thaksin's absence, Chaturon Chaisang led the party in this interim period. On May 30th, 2007, the Thai Rak Thai Party was outlawed and leaders (including Chaturon) were barred from standing in elections for 5 years.