page_title: Banharn Silpa-archa
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Banharn Silpa-archa / Political career
caption_attribution_description: นายกฯ อวยพรวันเกิดคุณบรรหาร ศิลปอาชา ณ บ้านพัก 19สิงหาคม2552 (The Official Site of The Prime Minister of Thailand Photo by พีรพัฒน์ วิมลรังครัตน์)
context_page_description: Banharn Silpa-archa was a Thai politician. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 1995 to 1996. Banharn made a fortune in the construction business before he became a Member of Parliament representing his home province of Suphan Buri. He held different cabinet posts in several governments. In 1994, he became the leader of the Thai Nation Party. In 2008, the party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court and Banharn was banned from politics for five years.
context_section_description: Banharn Silpa-archa was persuaded to enter politics by Booneua Prasertsuwan, a veteran member of the House of Representatives. In 1976, Banharn Silpa-archa made his political debut when he was elected a Member of Parliament, representing Suphan Buri Province. He joined the Thai Nation Party, a conservative party dominated by the "Rajakru clan" around Pramarn Adireksarn and Chatichai Choonhavan. His party participated in a coalition government under Prime Minister Seni Pramoj and Banharn was appointed deputy minister of industry. He was elected to the Senate in 1977, but returned to represent his constituency in the House of Representatives the next year. Banharn was re-elected Member of Parliament for Suphan Buri in all following elections, receiving steadily more than 100,000 votes (60 to 90 percent of the votes cast), what made him one of the highest vote-getters in the country.
  He sponsored the construction of schools, bridges, and other infrastructure in his home province, which in turn were named after him. This has led to the common saying that he "owns the province". When his party was a junior partner in the government of Prem Tinsulanonda from 1980 to 1983, Banharn was Minister of Agriculture. In 1981, he became secretary-general of the Thai Nation Party. Banharn, being one of the main financiers of the party, accumulated considerable influence inside the party, although he was not a member of the originally dominant Rajakru clan. The local press has once dubbed him "Mr. (Mobile) ATM" (automated teller machine), due to the suspicion that he had bought the loyalty of political associates in exchange for money.
  In 1986 Prime Minister Prem again called him up to the government, this time naming him Minister of Transport. After his party had won the elections in 1988 and Thai Nation leader Chatichai Choonhavan had become Prime Minister, Banharn was appointed Minister of Industry. In January 1990, he switched offices with Pramarn Adireksarn and became interior minister. In December of the same year, Chatichai made him Minister of Finance. The Chatichai government was deposed by a military coup d'état in 1991. Banharn returned to the cabinet as early as April 1992, when he once again became Minister of Transport in the short-lived government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon. His party went into opposition after early elections in September 1992. Banharn took over the leadership of the Thai Nation Party from Pramarn Adireksarn in 1994 and also became official leader of the opposition.
caption: Abhisit Vejjajiva and Banharn
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