The majority of cabinet positions during recent governments of Chatichai Chuan Banharn and Chavalit are mostly occupied by businessmen. not by former bureaucratic elites. The struggle for political power is becoming a struggle among several political parties for MP and cabinet posts within a political party. the struggle among politicians is for senior ranks in the party so that they can qualify as the party's nominees for ministerial portfolios the process of democratization in Thailand is eroding the traditional power of the bureaucratic eilites