Thailand Election News
Thailand election news, campaign updates, candidate profiles, and policy analysis—stay informed on regional and national elections with real-time coverage. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for election news in Thailand
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Prawit defends the PM’s brother being appointed to the new Senate
PHOTO: Thai Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan When the media are sceptical, get your wing man to back you up. The deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan has defended the appointment of retired General Preecha Chan-o-cha, the younger brother of PM Prayut, as a senator in the new parliament’s upper house. He said Gen Preecha is qualified as he was a member of…
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Democrats poised to take on the Election Commission over party-list seats
Join the queue. The Democrat party is joining two other political parties in objecting to the Election Commission’s party-list formula used to allocate seats to parties following the March 24 election. They’ve vowed to take legal action over the matter, along with heu Thai and Future Forward All three have now vowed to explore all possible legal channels to deal…
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Forming the next Thai government – Bhumjaithai and Democrats will decide
The result of who becomes the next government won’t come down to Palang Pracharat, Pheu Thai or even Future Forward. The horse-trading, that has been ongoing since the first results emerged after the March 24 election, has come down to some very simple maths. The ‘swinging’ Bhumjaithai Party. Their votes will sweep either Pheu Thai or the Junta-in-civilian-clothing, Palang Pracharat,…
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Election Commission’s ‘formula’ lands 27 parties in Lower House
The Election Commission has announced that a total of 26 parties have secured party-list MP seats in the new Lower House. 11 of the parties didn’t even win enough votes to be entitled to the seats under the guidelines announced before the election. The EC deputy secretary-general Sawang Boonmee refused to explain why the junta-appointed poll authority had chosen this controversial…
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Court says party-list seat calculation is constitutional
FILE PHOTO In news unlikely to shock anyone, the Constitutional Court has ruled unanimously that Article 128 of the MP Election Act, regarding the calculation of the 150 party-list seat allocation, is constitutional. They’ve ruled that it does not conflict with Article 91 of the Constitution. The Charter Court’s ruling has been released in a statement which was timed to perfection before the Election Commission was set…
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Second batch of official election results due today
Five weeks after the country’s general election, the Election Commission has endorsed 349 successful constituency candidates for the House of Representatives, of the 350 seats contested. One constituency in Chiang Mai province had its winning candidate disqualified – a bi-election will be held at the end of the month. Today, the EC will reveal the 150 successful party-list MP candidates who…
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Election Commission officially endorses 349 constituency seat winners
Five weeks after the country’s first general election since the 2014 military coup, the Election Commission has now officially endorsed 349 successful constituency candidates for the Lower House of Parliament, minus one. The EC’s deputy secretary-general, Sawang Boonmee says the vacant spot is for a Chiang Mai province constituency that will have a by-election later in May after the March…
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60 NLA members resign to become Senators in the new parliament
About 60 members of the National Legislative Assembly are expected to tender their resignations in the next two days to be ready to join the military-appointed Senate. NLA vice president Phirasak Porchit says that about 60 members of the assembly, himself included, as well as NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholachai, NLA vice president Surachai Liangboonlertchai, Somchai Sawaengkarn and Klanarong Chantik, had been handpicked to…
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Junta and government looking to unwind some orders made since 2014
The junta and the government are scheduled wind back orders and announcements originally issued by the junta but which are no longer considered necessary – some of them issued back in 2014 when the Junta took control in May of that year. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam passed on the news earlier today. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said the junta and the…
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Announcement of election results this Tuesday and Wednesday
The Election Commission is, as promised, poised to announce the final election results next Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday’s initial round of results are sure to spark off a new round of political dramas – no matter who is considered the ‘winner’ from the results. The announcements come at a time when tensions are running high over lawsuits and the uncertainty over…
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Future Forward candidates deny claims of media shares, again
Future Forward party candidates have again denied a pro-Junta activist’s accusations that some of their members have shares in media companies. Srisuwan Chanya, describing himself as a social activist, earlier this week asked the Election Commission to take legal action against 11 candidates of the party, claiming they owned shares in media firms. If a candidate is found guilty of the…
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EC reassures Thai voters the results will be announced by May 9
Thailand’s Election Commission is confident that it will be able to announce official results from the March 24 general election by May 9. This reassurance came from the commission’s chairman, Mr. Itthiporn Boonprakong. He says official results of the election have been delayed mainly by the EC’s indecision on the method of calculating the allocation of the 150 party-list seats…
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Thanathorn says other MPs now in the firing line, including from Phalang Pracharat
PHOTO: Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit emerges defiant after spending six hours with the EC yesterday – The Nation by Kas Chanwanpen The political tactics of going after Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and other party members for alleged shareholdings in media companies, could come back to haunt the pro-junta camp after a similar allegation was made against one of its…
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EC dogged by new controversy after poll re-run in Nakhon Pathom
Five times they counted and five times they got different results. The re-run of the election and the counting of votes in Nakhon Pathom, west of Bangkok, couldn’t have gone worse for the Election Commission, coming under fire from all directions over irregularities, forced recounts and hundreds of small errors in the counting process. The credibility has come under renewed…
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Thanathorn says he’s confident he won’t be penalised by the EC
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the leader of Future Forward Party, says he’s confident he won’t be penalised by the Election Commission over allegations he breached the Constitution and the election by holding shares in a media company, V Luck Media, when registering for the March 24 election. Thanathorn says he will submit his defence with the commission by next Monday and insists on…
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Thanathorn faces more charges from EC over media shares
Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the 40 year old leader of the new party, has cut short his trip to Europe over an ‘unexpected incident’ The Thai Election Commission yesterday unanimously resolved to press charges against Thanathorn over an alleged violation of Thai media shareholding rules. Citing investigations by two EC panels, Sawang Boonmee, the EC deputy secretary-general, told a press…
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Junta warned to be careful targeting rivals with petty litigation
PHOTO: Piyabutr Sangkanokkul reports to police yesterday using the, now popular, anti-government three-finger salute – The Nation by Kai Chanwanpen While members of pro-democracy parties continue to be targeted with politically-motivated lawsuits, a political scientist is warning this tactic of eliminating political rivals through trivial matters of law could backfire and lead to a legitimacy crisis down the track. In…
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Pro-democracy coalition remains positive following weekend glitch
by Kai Chanwanpen The see-saw continues as the anti and pro-junta groups continue to tussle to form a coalition government. Meanwhile the Election Commission (EC) is no closer to announcing the allocation of Lower House seats… three weeks after the vote! They maintain that May 9 is the day they will announce the results although this deadline has been muddied…
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US Embassy responds to Don’s rebuke over Thanathorn case
PHOTO: The Nation The Thai Foreign Minister yesterday formerly summoned foreign diplomats yesterday afternoon, one by one, in a diplomatic dressing down about their appearance at a police station last Saturday morning. The official ministry memo objected to the presence of envoys at the Pathumwan Police Station on Saturday when the Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit reported in to…
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Deputy police chief denies foreign diplomats present at Thanathorn interrogation
The deputy national police commissioner is denying that a group of foreign diplomats were present at a questioning session when the Future Forward party leader reported to Bangkok police on Saturday morning over sedition charges. Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said the diplomats were invited to a briefing after the interrogation of Thanathorn Jungrungruengkit at Pathum Wan police station. The Future…
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Thanathorn urged to ‘fight on’ as he surrenders to Bangkok police
Hundreds of supporters gathered around the Pathumwan police station this morning as Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit handed himself in to police to face sedition charges. Barriers were placed around the police station and 620 policemen were deployed to control the crowd. When Thanathorn arrived at 10am he used a megaphone to thank his supporters who had been waiting…
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“We have sufficient evidence against Thanathorn” – Police
Deputy national police chief says that police likely have sufficient evidence to support the sedition charge filed against Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. Future Forward eclipsed even their own projections with a surprising performance on the Mach 24 election, coming in a close third behind the heavyweights Pheu Thai and Palang Pracharat, at the expense of the Democrats. Thai PBS reports…
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Recounts and new elections ordered in eight polling stations
PHOTOS: The Nation The Election Commission has decided that two polling stations should recount their ballots while six others should re-hold the election due to discrepancies in the number of ballots in those booths. The two polling stations that have been ordered to re-count the ballots were in Nam Pong District in Khon Kaen province. The poll results they provided…
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Former EC Commissioner says ‘Give seats to smaller parties’
A former Constitution Drafting Commission member, Praphan Naikovit, once a member of the Election Commission, met with election commissioners yesterday to discuss the formula that should be used to determine the number of MPs following an extensive debate on the interpretation of laws and formula. He says there is just one formula to calculate the number of party-list MPs in…
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Army chief steps into the political fray again
PHOTO: Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong against a snappy hot pink backdrop by Supalak Ganjanakhundee Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong’s provocative comments against foreign-educated politicians with ‘leftist leanings’ and activists is a threat to democracy, and could lead to social unrest, violence and even collapse of the regime… warnings from prominent Thai scholars and rights defenders yesterday. The comments follow…
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Is Thanathorn the new Thaksin? Will the ‘establishment’ tolerate his new political vision?
Is Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit a popular fad or does he, and his party, have the staying power to make him a sustainable threat to the entrenched Thai political elite? Many analysts are comparing Thanathorn to Thaksin in his early days. They say there are clear similarities. First off, Thanathorn is facing the kind of legal trouble that…
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Election Commission admits they haven’t decided on the formula to determine lower house
by Kas Chanwanpen In a stunning admission yesterday, the Election Commission admitted they didn’t know the exact formula to work out the final make up of the lower house seats. The Election Commission secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma says that he expected the agency to make a decision this week on their interpretation of the new Charter that sets out, broadly, how…
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Activist’s car torched – Election Commission impeachment petition damaged
PHOTO: Thai PBS A car belonging to one of the activists campaigning for impeachment of the Election Commissioners at a rally in Rajaprasong intersection, Bangkok on Sunday, has had his car torched this morning, the second time in a week. Aekkachai Hongkangwan claims in a Facebook post today that his car was burnt beyond repair and some of his documents,…
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Protests demand results and transparency from the EC
by Kai Chanwanpen and The Thaiger The Thai Election Commission has to keep fending off criticism after protests yesterday were staged over its performance and the number of people demanding its members’ resignations was approaching one million. A former EC commissioner Sodsri Satayathum is calling on the agency to clear up all issues immediately before citizens launch an impeachment process,…
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Poll shows Thais are wary about the new government’s potential to end conflict
A new Suan Dusit Poll shows 31.8% of the respondents believe that the political situation will worsen due to the lack of stability of the new government while 28.1% are more optimistic. Most Thais believe the new government, be it led by Palang Pracharat or Pheu Thai, will not be able to end political division that have lasted almost two decades. The opinion poll sampled 1,752 people across the country. Nearly half said that…
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