The Pheu Thai Party (PTP) is a liberal-conservative and formerly social democratic political party in Thailand that was founded in 2008 by Thaksin Shinawatra. The party succeeded the People's Power Party of Thailand after it was suspended due to its members' participation in electoral fraud, and it supported populist social welfare policies appealing to the rural and urban poor. Pheu Thai also held culturally liberal views such as support for democracy, scrapping military conscription, decriminalizing sex work, and legalizing same-sex marriage, but the party was also pro-business and economically liberal, cutting the corporate tax and the personal income tax. The party was in government from 2011 to 2014, with Yingluck Shinawatra leading the party, but it was ousted from power after a Thai military coup.
After the 2023 Thai general election, the Pheu Thai Party - which placed second in that election behind the social democratic Move Forward Party - shifted its image from that of democracy champion to a new face of the conservative camp by breaking off its alliance with Move Forward and joining forces with the United Thai Nation-led, pro-military coalition to form a government. Political scientist Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee argued that Pheu Thai's shift of imagery merely brought its conservative nature into focus and broke its leftist façade, as Pheu Thai compromised with traditional authority, preserved traditional institutions, and progressed carefully in accordance with rules. The Move Forward Party took Pheu Thai's place as the party of progressivism, while Pheu Thai became the standard-bearer of Thai conservatism and the Palang Pracharath Party, United Thai Nation, Democrat Party of Thailand, and Bhumjaithai Party positioned themselves as the parties of the traditionalist wing of Thai politics.
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