Vejjajiva Abhisit Prime Minister of Thailand Date of Birth: 03.08.1964 Country: Thailand

1. Early Life and Education
2. Political Beginnings
3. Rise in the Democrat Party
4. Prime Minister
5. Amidst Protests and Crisis
6. Crackdown and Political Turmoil
7. Personal Life

Early Life and Education

Apirat Kunjara Na Ayudhya was born on August 3, 1964, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to Athasit and Sodsai Vejjajiva, both medical educators. His parents were wealthy members of Bangkok's Thai-Chinese community linked to Thailand's ruling elite since the 18th century.

Apirat received an elite education in Thailand and the United Kingdom. After attending Chulalongkorn University's Demonstration School in Bangkok, he studied at Scaitcliffe preparatory boys school and then Eton College. He earned a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and an MA in Economics from St John's College, Oxford University.

Political Beginnings

Apirat's interest in politics began at the age of nine during the 1973 revolution that overthrew Thailand's military junta. In 1991, his father was appointed Deputy Minister of Public Health by the National Peacekeeping Council, a military junta that had seized power in a coup earlier that year.

In 1992, Apirat was elected to the Thai National Assembly as a Bangkok constituency member of the Democrat Party, becoming one of the youngest MPs in Thai history. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 1995 and 1996. In 2001 and 2005, he was elected from the party-list to the House of Representatives after Thailand's 1997 constitution made the parliament bicameral.

Rise in the Democrat Party

Apirat quickly rose through the ranks of the Democrat Party, serving as party spokesman, government spokesman in a coalition government, chairman of the parliamentary education committee, deputy secretary to the Prime Minister, and Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office. Experts attribute his rise partly to his good looks.

After the Democrat Party's 2001 election defeat to Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, Apirat ran for the party leadership but lost to Banyat Bantadtan. Following another Democrat election loss to Thaksin's supporters in 2005, Banyat resigned, and Apirat was elected to succeed him.

Prime Minister

The Democrats became vocal critics of Thaksin's policies, with Apirat even petitioning the Thai King to dismiss the Prime Minister. Amidst political turmoil, Thaksin dissolved parliament and called a snap election for April 2006. If elected, Apirat promised to end the insurgency in Southern Thailand with Muslim rebels, make education more accessible, develop alternative fuels from tapioca, and preserve Thaksin's populist measures, such as his healthcare reforms.

However, the Democrats boycotted the election, and the TRT won a landslide victory in the uncontested polls. The election was later ruled unlawful, and a new one was scheduled, but on September 19, 2006, while Thaksin was in New York for the UN General Assembly, a group of army leaders led by Army Commander-in-Chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin staged a military coup and removed the government.

Following the approval of a new constitution in a 2007 referendum, the Democrat Party again lost the election, this time to the People's Power Party (PPP), which was formed after the TRT was banned. Samak Sundaravej became Prime Minister and stated that he would essentially be a caretaker for Thaksin, who was living in exile.

Amidst Protests and Crisis

In August 2008, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), backed by a faction of the military and some Democrat Party leaders, accused Samak of incompetence and the PPP of buying votes. The PAD staged mass protests in Bangkok that included the seizure of airports and the Prime Minister's residence. The unrest eventually led to Samak's dismissal and the election of another close Thaksin ally, Somchai Wongsawat, as Prime Minister.

However, Somchai was removed from office by a court in December 2008, and the PPP was dissolved. Apirat managed to form a coalition with some former PPP allies and won the December 2008 election for Prime Minister. Experts noted that while the PPP and Thaksin had appealed to the rural population, Apirat represented the interests of big business, the middle class, the military, and the royal court.

Crackdown and Political Turmoil

Apirat has been accused by some of establishing a dictatorship more stringent than Thaksin's, increasing penalties for criticizing the royal family and tightening internet censorship. In the spring of 2009, Thailand's political crisis flared up again, exacerbated by the global economic crisis. Some questioned Apirat's ability to navigate the country's political and economic problems.

Thaksin's most vocal supporters, who were in hiding from criminal charges abroad, consolidated around the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or "Red Shirts." Thaksin accused Apirat of conspiring with the military that had staged the 2006 coup. UDD activists paralyzed the government and disrupted the East Asia Summit in Pattaya scheduled to begin on April 12, 2009. A state of emergency was declared in Bangkok and its suburbs, and troops brought into the capital used lethal weapons against protesters. Thaksin called for Apirat's resignation, but he refused to step down voluntarily and declared on April 13 that the situation was under control.

Personal Life

Apirat is married to former dentist and mathematics lecturer Pimpen Sakuntabha, and they have two children. He has two sisters: Alisa Wacharasindhu, a child psychologist, and Ngarmpun Vejjajiva, a renowned Thai novelist. Apirat is a supporter of the Newcastle United Football Club in England.