page_title: Abhisit Vejjajiva
section_title: Rise to Premiership
hierarchical_section_title: Abhisit Vejjajiva / Rise to Premiership
caption_attribution_description: English: Opposition Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva at National Assembly of Thailand, 2008-03-20
context_page_description: Abhisit Vejjajiva is a British Thai politician who was the prime minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011. He is a former university lecturer at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy and Thammasat University, and was the leader of the Democrat Party from 2005 until he resigned following the party's weak performance in the 2019 election. As leader of the second largest party in the House of Representatives, he was also leader of the opposition – a position he held from December 2008 until his party's en masse resignation from the House on 8 December 2013. That same month, he was formally charged with murder resulting from a crackdown on demonstrators in 2010 that killed 90 people.
  Born in England, the United Kingdom, Abhisit attended Eton College and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oxford. He was elected to the Parliament of Thailand at the age of 27, and promoted to Democrat Party leader in 2005, after his predecessor resigned following the party's defeat in the 2005 general election.
  Abhisit was appointed prime minister of Thailand on 17 December 2008, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand removed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from office.
context_section_description: When Thaksin called for new elections in April 2006, Abhisit said he was "prepared to become a prime minister who adheres to the principles of good governance and ethics, not authoritarianism." On 29 April Abhisit announced his candidacy for prime minister at the Democrat Party annual convention. He promised a "People's Agenda", with education as the main focus. He used the campaign slogan "Putting People First". He also vowed not to privatise basic utilities such as water and electricity, and to nationalise state enterprises that Thaksin had privatised. Regarding core elements of the so-called "Thaksinomics", Abhisit promised "the benefits from certain populist policies, such as the 30-baht healthcare scheme, the Village Fund and the SML (Small Medium Large) scheme, will not be revoked but instead improved." He later urged that Thaksin's popular 30-baht health care scheme should be replaced with a system where access to medical services was totally free. Abhisit stated that all future Democrat MPs would have to declare their assets and any involvement in private companies. (By law, only members of the cabinet needed to declare their assets.)
  Abhisit raised more than 200 million baht at the Democrat Party's 60th anniversary dinner. He outlined several energy policies, including increasing dividend payments from state-owned oil company PTT and using the funds to repay oil fund debts, and having state-owned electric utility EGAT absorb part of the rising fuel prices. Abhisit later outlined plans to reduce retail petrol prices by eliminating the 2.50 baht/litre tax used to maintain the government's oil fund.
  On 13 July 2006, Abhisit promised to deal with escalating violence in the South by putting problems in the southern provinces on the public agenda.
  Abhisit also promised many populist policies including providing free education, textbooks, milk, and supplemental foods for nursery school students, and increasing the minimum wage.
  Following the Constitutional Court of Thailand's removal of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in 2008 for vested interests by taking a salary from a cooking show while being prime minister, Abhisit lost the National Assembly vote for prime minister by 163 votes to 298 for Somchai Wongsawat, ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra's brother-in-law. On 2 December 2008, the Constitutional Court banned the three government parties for electoral fraud, including the PPP, thus dissolving the governing coalition and paving the way for a Democrat-Party-led government. The court also removed Somchai from office and banned him from politics for five years due to his involvement in the scandal as one of PPP's executive board members. He was succeeded by a deputy.
  After Somchai was removed and the PPP dissolved, the MPs of the parties which had been in coalition with the PPP forged a new coalition with the Democrat Party, which had been in opposition until then. Most of the defectors were MPs from the Friends of Newin faction of the PPP, as well as the Bhumjaithai Party, the Puea Pandin Party, the Chartthaipattana Party, and the Rum Chart Pattana Party. The defection of the powerful Friends of Newin Group came about due to the alleged coercion by Army Commander General Anupong Paochinda, a move that Senator Khamnoon Sitthisamarn called an "Anupong-style coup". The Democrat-led coalition was able to endorse Abhisit as Prime Minister. Abhisit became Prime Minister after winning a vote in parliament on 15 December 2008.
caption: Abhisit as Leader of the opposition (2008)
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