Goverment - administration

Thailand is governed by a constitutional monarchy with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as Head of State. Official power rests with the government, personified by the prime minister, parliament,and a bureaucratic system thatreaches down to the village level. Over past decades the prime minister‘s personal power has steadily increased, largely because of the Thai tendency to express their concerns to the highest-ranlc ing authority, in nation as well as family, with the result that provincial delegations frequently appear at Government House requesting decisions on local problems. The Constitution is the highest law, governing through a system of centralisation. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament, and exercised through a bicameral National Assembly consisting of the publicly elected House of Representatives and the Senate appointed by the King. The Parliament must approve all legislative matters of national policy, which then require the King’s signature before becoming the law of the land.Judicial power is exercised through Law Courts with three levels, namely the Courts of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, and
the Supreme Court.
Executive power is exercised through a Cabinet headed by a Prime Minister.Essentially, the Royal Thai Government is composed of a Prime Minister and a Council of Ministers who head 15 major ministries.
These ministries are the Office of the Prime Minister; the Finance Ministry; the Foreign Affairs Ministry; the Defense Ministry; the Agriculture & Co-operatives Min
istry; the Education Ministry; the Transport and Communications Ministry; the Commerce Ministry; the Public Health Ministry; the Science,Technology & Environment Ministry; the Ministry of University Affairs; the Ministry of Justice ;the Ministry of Labour and Social welfare ; the Ministry of lndustry ; and the largest and most powerful,the Interior Ministry, under whose auspices come a wide range of
responsibilities, from provincial government to the police department, reaching down to the villages at the base of the pyramidal government structure. The system of administration is centralised but divided into regional and provincial administrations. The city of Bangkok has its ovvn administrative bodies and elects its own governor. Provincial adniinstration is the responsibility of the lnterior Ministry which appoints a governor for each of Thailand's 76 provinces. Regional administration has its ovvn regional electoral system governed by the administrative bodies.