History
The Social Action Party was formed by the more liberal members of the Democrat Party in 1974 under the leadership of Kukrit Pramoj. After Kukrit resigned the office of the party leader in December 1985, the former minister of foreign affairs and deputy party leader, Siddhi Savetsila, led the party.
Internal conflict during the 1986 parliamentary election resulted in a significant loss for the party. Controversy arose as rumor spread that General Arthit Kamlang-ek was secretly backing the party. By May 1986, with financial support from big businesses, a faction of the party split off with Boontheng Thongsawasdi to form the United Democracy Party, which proved to be unsuccessful.
Corruption scandals continued to devastate the party. In the fall of 1990, when Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan threatened to expel the party from his government coalition, founder Kukrit was asked to return briefly to replace Siddhi Savetsila. Partly because Chatichai had previously served Kukrit as foreign minister, Chatichai ultimately decided not to expel the party.
In December 1990, along with the Democratic Party, the Social Action Party withdrew entirely from Chatichai's government coalition, though it later rejoined Suchinda Kraprayoon's government in April 1992. It left the pro-military coaliliton in June 1992.
After splitting in to two factions as a result of a power struggle in 1999, the party once again withdrew from the government led by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, with 17 Parliament members withdrawing from the ruling coalition. In 2000, many of the members, including former leader Suwit Khunkitti, left Social Action for the Thai Rak Thai party.
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