Background
Since his ascension to power by an unprecedented landslide victory in 2001, Thaksin triggered public concerns over his authoritarian-style leadership, corruption scandals, massive wealth added to the already wealthy Thaksin and his cabinet members, and abuses of power by Thaksin himself. These concerns were growing in spite of huge popularity among business communities and rural voters who were enjoying wealth resulting from Thaksin's populist policy .
These concerns were stoked by the sales of Shin Corp, whose largest portion of shares were owned by Thaksin's family. The deal raised concern over Thaksin's conflicting interest, triggering public outrages and resulting in months of mass protests. The protests gained increased momentum, particularly among the urban middle- and upper-classes and later accelerated by the strict censorship of media, both by the media's own-censorship and intervention by the authority. Although mass protests in Bangkok were intense, support of Thai Rak Thai was still strong in the rural areas. Criticized by the opposition parties of avoiding testimony before the joint session of parliament, Thaksin weighed the situations and decided to dissolve the house of representatives in February and called for a general election in April 2006, hoping that the election would legitimize his position. The decision followed Thaksin's insistence that he would not resign and would not dissolve the House. Thaksin defended his decision, saying that he wanted to return the power back to the seriously divisive Thai people following massive protests against his administration.
Read more about this topic: 2006 Thai Political Party Dissolution Charges
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