kings were feudal or absolute monarchs. During Sukhothai Kingdom, the king was seen as a Dharmaraja or 'king who rules in accordance with Dharma'. The system of government was a network of tributaries ruled by local lords. Modern absolute monarchy and statehood was established by Chulalongkorn when he transformed the decentralized protectorate system into a unitary state. On 24 June 1932, Khana Ratsadon (People's Party) carried out a bloodless revolution which marked the beginning of constitutional monarchy. Thailand has had 20 constitutions and charters since 1932, including the latest and current 2017 Constitution. All constitutions state that the politics is conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, but the de facto form of government has ranged from military dictatorship to electoral democracy. Thailand has had the fourth-most coups in the world. "Uniformed or ex-military men have led Thailand for 55 of the 83 years" between 1932 and 2009. Most recently, the military junta self-titled as the National Council for Peace and Order ruled the country between 2014 and 2019. Since the 2019 Thai general election, Thailand's nominally democratic government has been led by Prayut Chan-o-cha, a royalist who was the former commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army that initiated the 2014 Thai coup d'état. Following the Constitutional Court's decision on 24 August 2022 to temporarily suspend Prayut Chan-o-cha's premiership until September to determine whether or not he has reached his 8-year term limit, Prawit Wongsuwan assumed the role of acting Prime Minister. Thailand's current form of government is part democracy and part dictatorship; many terms are used in an attempt to describe it. A hereditary monarch serves as Thailand's head of state. The current King of Thailand is Vajiralongkorn (or Rama X), who has reigned since October 2016. The powers of the king are limited by the constitution and he is primarily a symbolic figurehead. However, the monarch still occasionally intervenes in Thai politics, as all constitutions pave the way for customary royal rulings. Some academics outside Thailand, including Duncan McCargo and Federico Ferrara, noted extraconstitutional role of the monarch through a "network monarchy" behind the political scenes. The monarchy is protected by the severe lèse majesté law, even though the people's attitude towards the institution varies from one reign to another. Government is separated into three branches: The legislative branch: the National Assembly is composed of the Senate, the 250-member fully appointed upper house, and House of Representatives,