Prayuth Chan-ocha

Prayuth Chan-ocha (born March 21, 1954, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand) is a Thai military leader who, after leading a successful coup, became prime minister of Thailand (2014–23).

Few details are known about Prayuth’s pre-army life. He began his military career in the prestigious 21st Infantry, which was also known as the Queen’s Guard. He rose through the ranks, and by the coup of 2006 he had attained the rank of major general. That year the military engineered a coup and ousted elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A new constitution was drafted, and a new prime minister was chosen—Thaksin’s younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra. It was widely believed that Yingluck served as a proxy for Thaksin, who had fled into self-imposed exile. Prayuth and other Bangkok elites were displeased with that arrangement, and protests demanding her resignation ensued. During this time, Prayuth became (2010) army chief.

Unrest between pro- and anti-Thaksin factions raged and brought the government to a halt in late 2013. Protesters stormed offices, blocked roads, and sabotaged elections. After some six months of discord, the military stepped in on May 22, 2014. Prayuth became acting premier of the country and drafted a constitution that absolved him of responsibility for the coup and allowed him to remain a military official while head of the country—despite the fact that he was slated to retire in September. A new legislature was installed—composed of military and police officials handpicked by the junta—and nominated Prayuth as the prime minister; he was the sole candidate. On August 25 Prayuth was formally endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

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Although Prayuth promised the Thai people peace, the junta immediately began cracking down on all perceived forms of dissent. Political forums were banned, and freedom of speech was abandoned. Martial law was imposed, and politicians, journalists, critics, and activists were detained. Radio, TV, and newspapers were shut down. Prayuth’s policy promises included upholding the monarchy, bringing an end to human trafficking and to the ongoing Muslim insurgency in the southern Muslim-majority provinces, and fighting corruption and unregulated surrogacy. In March 2015 he lifted martial law but almost immediately invoked an article in the interim constitution that granted him sweeping powers. Although legislative elections were slated for late 2015 or early 2016, they were postponed. In January 2016 Prayuth retired as army chief but continued as prime minister.

As international pressure mounted to shift from military rule to a democratic government, Prayuth promised the Thai people a general election for the House of Representatives. However, in a move that many experts perceived as a way to retain legitimacy and power, in 2017 the constitution drafted by the junta was approved in a referendum that has been criticized for suppression of the opposition. The new constitution allowed the military government to appoint all members of the Senate. As Prayuth and the junta promised, Thailand’s general election for the lower house was held on March 24, 2019. In that election the Palang Pracharath Party, a proxy political party for the military, won a slight majority, securing 254 of 500 seats. Soon after the general election, in May 2019, all 250 members of the Senate were appointed by the military just before the selection of the next prime minister. Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a leader of the progressive and pro-democracy Future Forward Party, ran against Prayuth for the office. On June 5, 2019, Prayuth was selected as the next prime minister, securing a total of 500 votes to Thanathorn’s 244 in the House of Representatives and Senate. Prayuth’s second premiership was met with several large protests as he continued to hold on to power, which was widely seen as manipulative.

A political rift between Prayuth and the Palang Pracharath Party became evident when the party announced that it would support Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan for the prime ministerial title in the 2023 general election. This shift came after Prawit served as the acting prime minister while Prayuth was suspended from official duty by Thailand’s Constitutional Court in August 2022 for about a month. He was suspended for legal reasons concerning whether he had overstayed his term limit as a premier or not. After the court ruled that he had not overstayed his term limit, in December 2022 Prayuth decided to part with the Palang Pracharath Party that had helped him take office in 2019 and join its rival the United Thai Nation (also known as Ruam Thai Sang Chart) Party to run in the 2023 general election. That election, held on May 14, 2023, resulted in the highest voter turnout (almost 40 million) since 2019 and in a landslide victory by the Move Forward Party, a reformist and progressive party associated with the ousted and self-exiled Thaksin Shinawatra. A couple of months later, on July 11, 2023, Prayuth announced his retirement from politics and also resigned as a member of the United Thai Nation Party. Despite the Move Forward Party’s victory, the Senate repeatedly blocked the party’s leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, from becoming the next prime minister. Prayuth served as the acting prime minister until Thai politician and real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin of the populist Pheu Thai Party was elected as the next prime minister on August 22, 2023, and officially assumed the office.