People's Party (Thailand, 2024)
The People's Party is a major social democratic and progressive political party in Thailand. It is the third incarnation of the progressive Future Forward Party, which was founded in 2018 and dissolved by the Constitutional Court on 21 February 2020. It is the successor to the second incarnation, Move Forward Party, which was dissolved by the Constitutional Court on 7 August 2024. It is currently the largest party and the main opposition party in the House of Representatives.
The original form of the party was founded in 2012 as the Thinkakhao Party and later as the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party in 2018, it was renamed into the People's Party, its current form, on 9 August 2024.
History
As the Thinkakhao Party and Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party (2012–2024)
The party was originally founded as the Thinkakhao Party in 2012, later changing its name to the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party in 2018. Before becoming the People's Party, the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party had 10,474 members in August 2024. Its leadership had Tul Tintamora as party leader and Alisa Sattayawirut as deputy-leader, both assumed their posts on 5 April 2024. During the [2023 Thai language|Thai general election|2023 general election], 13 candidates were fielded but the party failed to win any seats.As the People's Party (2024–present)
Prior to the Thai Constitutional Court's ruling on the fate of the Move Forward Party, it was reported that Thinkakhao Chaovilai had been prepared as a successor party for Move Forward. Move Forward was dissolved by the court on 7 August 2024, which also included five of its MPs being banned from politics. Following the dissolution, all of the remaining 143 MPs joined Thinkakhao Chaovilai. Meetings were then held to elect new party executives, with Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut being elected its new leader and the name was changed to the People's Party on 9 August 2024. The People's Party shares its Thai name with four historical parties, most recently in 1998. Some commentators noted its English name might be an intentional nod to Khana Ratsadon, the group that led the revolution to overthrow absolute monarchy in 1932, whose name is commonly rendered into English as the People's Party.The party was officially launched on 9 August 2024. On the first day, more than 10 million baht was donated. On the following day, applications for membership were accepted from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Stadium One, Charoen Phon Intersection. By the end of the day, its membership had grown to almost 40,000 and the total of donations to the party had exceeded 20 million baht.
Soon after the People's Party's formation it was challenged by the conservative royalist Thai Pakdee Party. Warong Dechgitvigrom, leader of the Thai Pakdee, announced on 11 August that he would ask the Election Commission to conduct an investigation into whether the party should be disqualified due to it having lacked enough branches in the country when it was the Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party. Thai law states that political parties must maintain one branch in each region of Thailand for one year in order to exist legally. Before becoming the People's Party, it only maintained one branch in the north and two in the central plains. Warong then stated that "for transparency, the EC must check it." On 12 August, the Secretary-General of the EC Sawang Boonmee responded by saying that the People's Party had registered branches in all regions and dismissed Warong's claims. Despite this, Warong said he would submit a petition to the EC and that they "must examine if the Thin Kakao Chaovilai Party had those branches in every region by the time it was taken over."