Thailand
former name (to 1939 and 1945-49) Siam
Country in SE Asia on the Gulf of Siam, bounded E by Laos and
Cambodia, S by Malaysia, and W by Myanmar (Burma).
Government
A hereditary monarch is head of state.
The 1978 constitution was suspended 1991 and a new military-
orientated constitution adopted. It provides for a two-chamber
national assembly, comprising a 270-member senate, the Wuthisapha,
appointed by the monarch (and traditionally drawn from the armed
forces and police) for a four-year term, and a 360-member house
of representatives, the Saphaphutan, elected by universal suffrage,
also for a four-year term. The monarch retains significant political
power, having the authority to dissolve the national assembly
and to veto bills, with a two-thirds assembly majority being required
for a royal veto to be overturned. On the advice of the national
assembly, the monarch appoints a prime minister, who has extensive
emergency powers and, following a constitutional amendment 1992,
must to be drawn from the elected assembly. Among further amendments
approved 1995 was a reduction in the size of the senate to two-thirds
the number of seats in the house.
The military exerts considerable backstage influence. Far-left
parties, such as the Communist Party, are outlawed, as are parties
that field candidates in fewer than half the nation's constituencies.
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