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ing Thai') party, won a majority in the elections of 2001. Self-styled as a CEO-politician,
Thaksin swiftly delivered on his campaign promises for rural development, including
agrarian debt relief, village capital funds and cheap health care.
Thanks to the 1997 constitutional reforms designed to strengthen the prime minister's
position, his was one of Thai history's most stable elected governments. The surging eco-
nomy and his bold, if strong-arm, leadership won an outright majority in 2005, introdu-
cing one-party rule. His popularity among the working class and rural voters was im-
mense.
In 2006 Thaksin was accused of abusing his powers and of conflicts of interest, most
notably in his family's sale of their Shin Corporation to the Singaporean government for
73 billion baht (US$1.88 billion), a tax-free gain thanks to legislation he helped craft. De-
monstrations in Bangkok called for his ousting and on 19 September 2006, the military
staged a bloodless coup that forced Thaksin into exile. General elections were held shortly
thereafter with Thaksin's political allies forming a government led by Samak Sundaravej.
This was an unsatisfactory outcome to the military and the anti-Thaksin group known
as People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), consisting of mainly urban elites nicknamed
'Yellow Shirts' because they wore yellow (the king's birthday colour). It was popularly
believed that Thaksin was consolidating power during his tenure so that he could interrupt
royal succession.
In September 2008, Samak Sundaravej was unseated by the Constitutional Court on a
technicality: while in office, he hosted a TV cooking show deemed to be a conflict of in-
terest. Concerned that another election would yield another Thaksin win, the Yellow
Shirts seized control of Thailand's main airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang, for a
week in November 2008 until the military manoeuvred a silent coup and another favour-
able court ruling that further weakened Thaksin's political proxies. Through last-minute
coalition building, Democrat Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected in a parliamentary vote, be-
coming Thailand's 27th prime minister.
Thaksin supporters organised their own counter-movement as the United Front for
Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), better known as the 'Red Shirts'. Supporters
hailed mostly from the north and northeast, and include anti-coup, pro-democracy activ-
ists; anti-royalists; and die-hard Thaksin fans. There is a degree of class struggle, with
many working-class Red Shirts expressing bombastic animosity towards the aristocrats.
The Red Shirts' most provocative demonstration came in 2010 after Thailand's Su-
preme Court ordered the seizure of US$46 billion of Thaksin's assets after finding him
