Chumpol Silpa-archa dies at 72

Chumpol Silpa-archa, the Chartthaipattana Party leader, died of renal failure on Monday morning, exactly five weeks after he collapsed from a heart problem while at Government House.

Chumpol, aged 72, who was a deputy premier and tourism and sports minister, was pronounced dead at 9.39am at Ramathibodi Hospital on Jan 21.

His relatives collected his body from the hospital to perform funeral rites at Wat Thepsirin.

On Dec 17 last year the veteran politician from Suphan Buri province was rushed to hospital from Government House after he developed breathing difficulty and later passed out.

He was the younger brother of former prime minister and Chartthaipattana chief adviser Banharn Silpa-archa, who said last week that his brother was generally stable and responded by blinking and moving his hands and mouth.

Chumpol Silpa-archa (Photo by Taweechai Tawatpakorn)

Chumpol served as education minister in the Chuan Leekpai administration in 1997. 

He became leader of the Chartthaipattana Party after the Chart Thai Party was ordered dissolved by the Constitution Court for electoral fraud in 2008. 

His party then sided with the Democrat Party and he was appointed tourism and sports minister under the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.

In 2011, Chartthaipattana changed sides again after the Pheu Thai Party won the general election. Chumpol remained the minister of tourism and sports and was later appointed a deputy prime minister in the Yingluck Shinawatra government.