page_title: Democrat Party (Thailand)
section_title: 2008-2011 coalition government
hierarchical_section_title: Democrat Party (Thailand) / History / The Democrat Party in the 2000s / 2008-2011 coalition government
caption_attribution_description: นายกรัฐมนตรี อภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ คุณชวน หลีกภัย และคุณบัญญัติ บรรทัดฐาน นายกรัฐมนตรี ประชุมสภา ณ อาคารรัฐสภา 3 มีนาคม 2553 (The Official Site of The Prime Minister of Thailand Photo by พีรพัฒน์ วิมลรังครัตน์)
context_page_description: The Democrat Party is a Thai political party. The oldest party in Thailand, it was founded as a royalist party, and now upholds a conservative and classically liberal pro-market position.
  The Democrat Party made its best showings in parliament in 1948, 1976, and 1996. It has never won an outright parliamentary majority. The party's electoral support bases are southern Thailand and Bangkok, although election results in Bangkok have fluctuated widely. Since 2004, Democrat candidates won three elections for the governorship of Bangkok. From 2005 to 2019, the Democrat Party was led by Abhisit Vejjajiva, former prime minister.
context_section_description: The sieges ended when the constitutional court banned the People's Power Party and two of its coalition allies. During the critical period that followed the rulings, it is alleged that army commander and co-leader of the 2006 coup, General Anupong Paochinda, coerced former PPP MPs, mainly those of the Friends of Newin Group, to endorse a Democrat Party-led coalition, which secured enough parliamentary votes to allow Abhisit to be elected prime minister. These MPs, along with MPs of four other former PPP-coalition parties, crossed the aisle to endorse a Democrat-led coalition government. In a December 2008 parliamentary session, the Democrat-led coalition government was voted upon, with 235 to 198 votes in favor of Democrat Party leader and candidate for PM Abhisit Vejjajiva.
  During Songkran (Thai New Year), anti-government UDD protesters disrupted the Fourth East Asia Summit. Violent protests then erupted in Bangkok, leading Abhisit to declare a state of emergency for three days, censoring the media, and using military force to end the protests.
  Soon afterward, PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt. Both Sondhi's son and Thaksin claimed that factions within the Democrat government were behind the assassination. Abhisit's foreign minister counter-claimed that Thaksin was behind it.
caption: Three leaders of the Democrat Party from 1991 to 2019 (From left to right: Banyat Bantadtan, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Chuan Leekpai)
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2010:03:03 15:28:25", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "630", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7512", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:03:03 14:26:11", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:03:03 14:26:11", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "540241/125000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Unidentified", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3413", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "5120", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "873600/283", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1456000/471", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}