1976, Apr 4 - A new general election is held with 19 competing parties. The Democratic Party wins 114 out of 279 seats.
1976, Apr 20 - Seni Pramoj is again elected by Parliament to serve as prime minister.
1976, Aug - Former military strongmen Thanom Kittikachorn returns as Buddhist monk to Thailand from self-exile in Singapore, a development which angers leftwing students.
1976, Oct 5 - Leftwing students assemble at the Thammasat University to protest the return of Field Marshall Thanom and his cohorts.
1976, Oct 6 - Thousands of rightwing activists concentrate around Thammasat University. Before noon, they start to attack the leftwing students and storm Thammasat University. After this initial attack, the rightwing mob is joined by police and military forces who start shooting indiscriminately at the students. Students who try to flee the campus are held and mutilated by the rightwing mob that has encircled the campus. The massacre lasts for almost two days. The official body count is 41 dead students, though unofficial figures are considerably higher. Almost 3,000 students are arrested and brought to various detention centers set up in a hurry. On the evening of October 6, a so-called National Administrative Reform Council, led by Admiral Sangad Chalawyoo, topples the government of Prime Minister Seni Pramoj and installs General Thanin Kraivixien as new prime minister. Leftwing activists flee in droves into the mountains to join the Communist Party of Thailand. The National Administrative Reform Council immediately dissolves the parliament; other political parties as well as groups with military activities are banned. The Thanin government becomes one of the most repressive in modern Thai history. Thanin is heavily guided in his day-to-day decisions by astrology and palmistry. He is himself a palmist, holding palm reading sessions with the fees going to charity projects; he once is also photographed reading from the palm of visiting Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda and his wife during their state visit to Thailand.
1977, Mar 26 - General Chalard Hiranyasiri attempts a coup against the Thanin government but fails. He is first demoted and, on April 21, 1977, executed by firing squad. Several of his collaborators are sentenced to life imprisonment.
1977, Oct 20 - Admiral Sangad Chalawyoo, whose coup on Oct 6, 1977 installed Thanin Kraivixien as prime minister, leads as Defence Minister of the Thanin government another successful coup, together with Supreme Commander General Kriangsak Chomanan. The coup plotters present themselves as the Revolutionary Party. The post of prime minister falls to Kriangsak. Though also military-installed, the Kriangsak government proves to be much less dictatorial than the Thanin government. While the Thanin government had scheduled a return to democracy within 12 years, the new military backed government promises elections within one year.
1978 - The Kriangsak government pursues a foreign policy of fence-mending with the communist neighbors to the east. Diplomatic relations are restored with Vietnam.
1978, Nov 4-8 - Deng Xiaoping of China visits Thailand. Agreements on trade and scientific cooperation are signed.
1978, Dec - Kriangsak enacts a constitution with temporary clauses that favor the military. The constitution institutes a two chamber parliament, with a lower house of elected representatives and an upper house of appointed senators. The way they are appointed, it is secured that the military will be represented with a substantial number of senators.
