Abhisit Vejjajiva

Abhisit Vejjajiva is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. He has been the leader of the Democrat Party since February 2005. Abhisit successfully ran for MP in Bangkok under the Democrat Party following the 1991 NPKC military coup. Abhisit quickly rose through party ranks but failed in a bid to become party leader in 2001. He was accused of covering up illegal donations by failed petrochemical firm TPI Polene to the Party during the run-up to the 2005 elections (as of 2010, the scandal is still under investigation). Abhisit became party leader after the Party's overwhelming defeat in the 2005 elections. During the 2005-2006 Thai political crisis, Abhisit called for King Bhumibol Adulyadej to appoint a replacement to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In a rare public speech, Bhumibol responded, "Asking for a Royally-appointed prime minister is undemocratic. It is, pardon me, a mess. It is irrational". Under Abhisit's leadership, senior Democrat Party members accused Thaksin of what they called the Finland Plot, a supposed plan to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. Abhisit boycotted the 2006 elections. Abhisit voiced displeasure at the 2006 coup that overthrew Thaksin, but otherwise did not protest it or the military junta that ruled Thailand for over a year. An Attorney-General's Office fact-finding panel found that the Democrat Party bribed other parties to boycott the 2006 elections to force a constitutional crisis, and recommended dissolving the Democrats. The new Constitutional Court acquitted Abhisit and the Democrats of the vote bribery charges, while banning Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party for the same charges. Abhisit supported the junta's 2007 Constitution, calling it an improvement on the 1997 Constitution. The Democrat Party lost the junta-administered 2007 election to the People's Power Party. In the crisis that followed, some Democrat Party members became leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy, which seized Government House, and Don Muang Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airports, while violently clashing with the police and anti-PAD protesters. Abhisit voiced displeasure at sieges, but did not stop his deputies from their leadership of the PAD. The sieges ended after the Constitutional Court banned the People's Power Party. Army commander and co-leader of the 2006 coup, General Anupong Paochinda, allegedly coerced several PPP MPs, including those from the Friends of Newin Group, to defect to the Democrat Party allowing Abhisit to be elected Prime Minister. Abhisit became Premier during a global economic crisis and faced escalating domestic political tension. During Songkran of 2009, protesters disrupted the Fourth East Asia Summit. Violent protests then erupted in Bangkok, leading Abhisit to declare a state of emergency, censor the media, and order the military to crack down on the protesters. Members of Abhisit's government were implicated in the attempted assassination of PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, although the government blamed Thaksin. Abhisit made it his government's top priority to censor and prosecute people questioning the role of the Privy Council and the King in politics. However, he was criticized by Privy Councilor Kamthon Sindhavananda for being slow to respond to alleged insults. In its 2010 report, Human Rights Watch praised Abhisit's rhetoric but dismissed his record, noting, "The government continually undermined respect for human rights and due process of law in Thailand. " Numerous cases of government corruption occurred under Abhisit's leadership. Abhisit's Social Development and Human Security Minister Vitoon Nambutr resigned after procuring rotten canned fish for flood stricken refugees, and Public Health Minister Vittaya Kaewparadai resigned after gross overpayment of items under the massive Thai Khem Khaeng (Strong Thailand) stimulus program. Abhisit also oversaw rising tension with Cambodia over several issues, including the appointment of controversial PAD leader Kasit Piromya as Foreign Minister, violent border clashes over Preah Vihear, and the appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra as economic advisor to the Cambodian government.