The 2006 Thai coup d'état took place on 19 September 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the elected caretaker government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup d'état, which was Thailand's first non-constitutional change of government in fifteen years since the 1991 Thai coup d'état, followed a year-long political crisis involving Thaksin, his allies, and political opponents and occurred less than a month before nationwide House elections were scheduled to be held. It has been widely reported in Thailand and elsewhere that General Prem Tinsulanonda, a key person in the military-monarchy nexus, Chairman of the Privy Council, was the mastermind of the coup. The military cancelled the scheduled 15 October elections, abrogated the 1997 constitution, dissolved parliament and the constitutional court, banned protests and all political activities, suppressed and censored the media, declared martial law nationwide, and arrested cabinet members.
The new rulers, led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and organised as the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), issued a declaration on 21 September setting out their reasons for taking power and giving the commitment to restore democratic government within one year. However, the CDR also announced that after elections and the establishment of a democratic government, the council would be transformed into a Council of National Security (CNS) whose future role in Thai politics was not explained. The CNS later drafted an interim charter and appointed retired General Surayud Chulanont as Premier. Martial law was lifted in 41 of Thailand's 76 provinces on 26 January 2007 but remained in place in another 35 provinces. Elections were held on 23 December 2007, after a military-appointed tribunal outlawed the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party of Thaksin and banned TRT executives from contesting in elections for five years.
The coup occurred after nearly two years of escalating anti-Thaksin sentiment, particularly in Bangkok. Even long-standing rural supporters of Thaksin reported increasing frustration at the tensions caused by the 2005–2006 Thai political crisis. Civilians were largely supportive of the military coup at the time. The 2006 coup is sometimes called the "unfinished coup" because another army general, Prayut Chan-o-cha, staged the 2014 Thai coup d'état eight years later. This second coup targeted the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, and resulted in the removal of her government. The 2014 coup led to military control of the country for five years until 2019, and Prayut himself remained in power until 2023, a much longer tenure than that of the 2006 coup leaders.
Background
Thirteen years before, a conflict in Thai politics between military factions caused the 1991 Thai coup d'état which ended in a bloody violent crackdown in 1992 by the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Police. Thailand promulgated the 1997 constitution of Thailand, the 'people constitution', for the first time in the history of Thailand that both the upper house and lower house were directly elected. The populist Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT), led by Thaksin Shinawatra, won the 2001 Thai general election. After the end of Thaksin term, for the first time in history, he won the 2005 Thai general election by a landslide.
The 2005–2006 Thai political crisis began in October 2005, the website of the newspaper Phoochatkarn ran an article alleging that Thaksin had usurped the Royal powers of King Bhumibol Adulyadej by presiding over the ceremony. This blast, referring to a photo printed in The Nation newspaper, led Sondhi Limthongkul, the owner of Phoochatkarn, to start using We Love the King, We Will Fight for the King, and Return Power to the King as his key anti-Thaksin rallying slogans. This allegation has been repeated in Sondhi's Thailand Weekly live tapings. Sondhi formed the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), yellow shirts rallied the masses on the street and attacked Thaksin through his ASTV channel.
Early 2006, amid the Sale of Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings, Thaksin called the April 2006 election following a mounting campaign of criticism of his financial dealings. The TRT won a majority of seats, partly as a result of the decision by the major opposition parties to boycott the elections led to party dissolution charges against the TRT. King Bhumibol took the unprecedented step of calling the elections undemocratic, and soon after the election was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court. New elections were scheduled for October 2006.
Prelude
Earlier planning and rumours
Planning for the coup started about February 2006. Rumors of unrest in the armed forces and possible takeover plots swirled for months leading to the event. In May 2006, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin issued assurances that the military would not seize power. On 20 July 2006, around a hundred middle-ranking army officers said to be supporters of Thaksin were reassigned by the army high command, fueling rumors that the army was divided between supporters and opponents of the prime minister. In July 2006, 3rd Army Area Commander Saprang Kalayanamitr gave an interview in which he stated that Thai politics was below standard and that the kingdom's leadership was weak. He also claimed that Thailand had a false democracy. The public was becoming increasingly alarmed by each fresh rumor. In August 2006, there were reports of tank movements near Bangkok, but the military attributed these to a scheduled exercise. In early September, Thai police arrested five army officers, all members of Thailand's counter-insurgency command, after intercepting one of the officers with a bomb in a car allegedly targeting the prime minister's residence. Three of the suspects were released after the coup.
In December 2006, former National Security Council head Prasong Soonsiri claimed that he and five other senior military figures had been planning a coup as early as July. He claimed that Sonthi was one of those figures, but that Surayud and Prem were not involved at the time.
Coup
19 September
On the evening of 19 September 2006, the Thai military and police overthrew the elected government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. At the time, the premier was in New York City at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
- At 18:30, Royal Thai Army Special Forces units moved from Lopburi Province to Bangkok. At the same time, Prem Tinsulanonda, key person of military-monarchy nexus, Privy Council President, had an audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej, reportedly concerning a merit-making ceremony for Bua Kitiyakara, the King's mother-in-law.
- By 21:00, the special forces units arrived in Bangkok.
- Around 21:30, Army-owned television broadcaster Channel 5 ceased scheduled programming and aired songs authored by the king. By this time, rumours started spreading that the military had arrested deputy prime minister in charge of national security Chitchai Wannasathit and Defence Minister Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya, and that Thaksin's son had left the country. National radio, terrestrial TV, cable TV, and some satellite broadcasters were taken off air shortly after.
- At 21:40, police commandos arrived at the residence of Thaksin. Army tanks soon took position throughout Bangkok.
- At 22:20, Thaksin declared a state of emergency by telephone from New York. He transferred General Sonthi Boonyaratglin from his post as army commander to a position in the Prime Minister's Office and appointed Supreme Commander General Ruangroj Mahasaranon to take control of the crisis. His declaration, broadcast on television, was cut immediately afterwards.
- At 23:00 Thawinan Khongkran, Miss Asia 1987 and head of public relations for army-owned television station Channel 5, announced on TV that military and police units had Bangkok and the surrounding areas under control:
The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle. We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience. Thank you and good night.
The junta, initially called the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM), later took the name of Council for Democratic Reform to rule out suspicions about the role of the monarchy.
- At 23:50, the CDR issued a second statement explaining the reasons for the coup d'état and wished "to reaffirm that it has no intention to become the administrators of the country." The council promised to retain the king as head of state and to return administrative power to the Thai people "as quickly as possible."
Foreign news channels, such as BBC World, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg Television, were reported to have been taken off air, although foreign broadcasters were still able to broadcast from Bangkok. Telecommunications networks (telephone and the Internet) were operational.
The army declared martial law nationwide, ordered all soldiers to report to their barracks and banned troop movements unauthorised by the CDR. Television footage showed heavily armed troops in M113 armored personnel carriers and M998 HMMWV vehicles on the streets of the city. Many soldiers and military vehicles wore strips of yellow cloth as a symbol of loyalty to the king, whose royal color is yellow.
Junta commander Sonthi confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai and Defence Minister Thammarak had been arrested. High-ranked civil servants were ordered to report to the council while governmental offices and banks would be closed on 20 September.
A few hours after news of the coup broke, BBC News reported that the leader of the coup would be meeting with the king later in the day, although it was unclear at that time what King Bhumibol's position on the coup was.
20 September
- By 00:39 a third statement suspended the constitution and dissolved the cabinet, both houses of parliament, and the constitutional court.
- At 01:30 (20:30 UTC) on 20 September it was announced that Thaksin had cancelled his speech at the United Nations. He watched his overthrow on television from a hotel in New York. Tom Kruesopon, a TRT member and an adviser to Thaksin, said the premier "has not given up his power. He is not seeking asylum."
- At 09:16 General Sonthi announced in a television conference that the military had needed to seize power in order to unite the nation after months of political turmoil:
We have seized power. The constitution, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Cabinet and the Constitutional Court have all been dissolved. We agreed that the caretaker prime minister has caused an unprecedented rift in society, widespread corruption, nepotism, and interfered in independent agencies, crippling them so they cannot function. If the caretaker government is allowed to govern it will hurt the country. They have also repeatedly insulted the king. Thus the council needed to seize power to control the situation, to restore normalcy and to create unity as soon as possible.
Shortly after this announcement, Thai TV programmes resumed whilst cable TV partly resumed. However, main foreign news channels (CNN, BBC, CNBC, NHK and Bloomberg) remained blacked out.
- At 12:14 Coup authorities demanded the cooperation of mass media, and later asked the Information and Communications Technology ministry (ICT) to control the distribution of all media information deemed harmful to the provisional military council.
- By 14:50, the 1997 constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (also known as the "People's Constitution") was removed from the website of the National Assembly of Thailand.
The country's northern border with Laos and Myanmar was closed for a couple of days.
In an interview given before leaving New York for London with Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee, and his personal assistant Padung Limcharoenrat, Thaksin Shinawatra said:
I didn't expect that this will happen. I came here as Prime Minister but left as an unemployed man. It's fine that no one gives me a job. I volunteered to work but they didn't want to give me job, so it's fine.
Thaksin was escorted to his home in Kensington where he joined his daughter Pinthongta, who is studying in London. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said that Thaksin's trip was a private visit.
- At 15:35, junta leader Sonthi announced that the military had no plans to seize Thaksin's personal assets or seize shares of Shin Corporation back from Temasek Holdings. Early in 2006, Thaksin sold his family's shares in Shin Corporation to Temasek.
- At 20:17 General Sonthi announced in a television statement that King Bhumibol Adulyadej had endorsed him as the head of the interim governing council. He also promised to restore democracy in a year's time.
Late in the evening, a spokesman of the CDR announced that the king has issued a royal command to appoint Sonthi as the CDR president.
Contradicting earlier announcements, the CDR issued a 13th statement maintaining the status of the newly selected Election Commission and adding that the EC ACT would organize the election of local administrations and councils.
The CDR then issued its seventh order dividing responsibilities into four divisions as part of responsibility sharing. The four divisions were the CDR, the secretariat, the advisory division, and the special affairs division.
21 September
The files and papers related to the investigation of the alleged car bomb plot against Thaksin (24 August 2006) vanished from the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on the night of 19 September. Police loyal to deputy police chief General Priewphan Damapong (brother of Thaksin's wife Khunying Potjaman) were also seen loading assault weapons from the CSD in vehicles that went off to an unknown destination.
In the afternoon, Sonthi summoned media executives to army headquarters to tell them to stop carrying expression of public opinion following the military takeover. The move came after the military imposed strict controls on the media and said they would block information deemed harmful to the provisional military council now in control of Thailand. The army official said the normal television programming will be resumed but the council would begin making its own televised announcements every two hours starting from 11:00 am (04:00 GMT).
RTA Troops and tanks began reducing their presence at key government facilities. Four tanks remained at Government House in the early morning, down from 10 the previous day, and fewer armed soldiers were on guard.