Thai Politics...

The current prime minister of Thailand is Thaksin Shinawatra of the Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thais) party, which he started in in 1998. He became prime minister in January 2001. That same year he came close to being convicted for concealing financial assets which would have banned him from office for 5 years. Some say he avoided conviction by bribing the judges. In February 2005 he was re-elected, where his party took 374 out of 500 seats in Parliament. He has been accused of various forms of corruption including restricting freedom of the press. In January he made a reality show. Things started heating up in January when his family sold their stake in Shin Corporation for US$1.88 billion and used a loophole which made it tax-free. Since then there have been many anti-Thaksin and pro-Thaksin rallies and protests (some with over 100 000 people) and pressure from many big names to resign. There have also been several impeachment attempts. In February, he dissolved Parliament and called for another election on April 2. The opposition parties boycotted the election and did not field candiates and encouraged their supporters to check the "no vote" box when voting. His party received an estimated 57% of the overall vote in this election. However, in about 38 districts, the Thai Rak Thai candidates did not receive the minimum of 20% of cast ballots, so there will be empty seats in Parliament. So the protests will probably continue and Thaksin does not seem ready to resign anytime soon. The People's Alliance for Democracy is trying to get the results of the election suspended on the grounds that the Election Commision failed to ensure voting secrecy. Part of the reason we cashed out our Thai Baht, in case protests turn violent and the Baht drops. Anyways, just a layman's view on the current situation.

Sources:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/04/03/thailand.polls/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaksin
http://www.bangkokpost.com/