Thailand Election News
Keep up with the latest developments in Thailand’s political landscape with The Thaiger’s Elections News Page. Our comprehensive coverage includes real-time updates on election campaigns, candidate profiles, and analysis of policy proposals and election outcomes. Stay engaged and informed on regional and national elections by turning to our Elections News Page for accurate and up-to-date news on the ever-evolving political scene.
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The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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Thailand’s future is dissolving right before our eyes
by Edward KitlertsirivatanaWhen an animal is cornered, with no other options, its survival instinct kicks in. It will fight tooth and nail for its life. With the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart party, attempts to dissolve other rival parties are in the air. You can smell it. If they were to be dissolved, desperate measures may materialise. And it doesn’t…
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“Nothing to do with the election” – Deputy PM Prawit
Senior government security officials are claiming the series of bomb blasts last weekend in the southern provinces of Phatthalung and Satun are related to insurgency activities in the predominantly Muslim region. They say there is no connection with the upcoming election and that the timing is just co-incidence. The South has been racked by violence from an ongoing insurgency since…
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Long queues and poor arrangements greet early Thai voters in KL
PHOTO: Thai PBS A long queue of waiting voters spilled out of the Thai embassy compound in Kuala Lumpur during yesterday’s early voting. Over 4,000 Thai nationals working in Malaysia turned up at the Thai embassy in KL yesterday to cast their ballots. The actual Thai election day is on March 24 but foreign embassies provide opportunities for Thai expats to cast their vote…
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The maths of March 24 – Thailand Election 2019
by Tim Newton The views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of The Thaiger or its business partners. Since it was first formed in 2008, along with the previous incarnations that swept Thaksin Shinawatra to power in the early 2000s, the Pheu Thai party has remained the dominant force in Thai politics. In 2011 it brought Thaksin’s…
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Constitutional Court dissolves Thai Raksa Chart party and bans party members
The Thai Constitutional Court has ordered the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart Party for naming Prince Ubolratana, a member of the Royal Family, as its prime ministerial candidate. The Court claims this action undermined Thailand’s constitutional monarchy. The court has also banned all 14 members of the party’s executive board from politics for 10 years in a stunning decision that…
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Security tight ahead of Thai Raksa Chart verdict
Security is tight this morning in and around the Constitutional Court building as the court is due to deliver its verdict on the fate of the pro-Thaksin Thai Raksa Chart party. Four sniffer dogs, special-forces police and a bomb disposal team thoroughly searched the area of the court building for firearms and explosives. The number of surveillance cameras has been…
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Thanathorn’s “unfinished 1932 mission” questioned
PHOTO: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit appears on Channel 3 “May I ask what is the 1932 unfinished mission that Thanathorn, the party leader, announced he will complete?” The Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit’s controversial remarks, that one of the party’s policies is to complete the ‘unfinished mission of the 1932 coup makers’, has provoked a strong reaction among Thai royalists. The…
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Future Forward deputy leader admits sharing fake news
The Future Forward party deputy leader Lt-Gen Pongsakorn Rodchompoo has told the Technology Crime Suppression Division police that he shared a fake news story about Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan. But he claims he had no way of knowing that it was fake. Thai PBS reports that Pol Lt-Gen Surachet Hakparn, commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, posted in Facebook today saying…
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Future Forward leader Thanathorn spared detention, for now
The leader of a pro-democracy party, Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and two of his colleagues were spared detention in a case involving criticism of the junta on TV last week. Dashing earlier speculation that the trio would be held in custody, the attorney-general ordered them freed for now, saying they had voluntarily turned themselves in. Bail bond was also…
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Constitutional court to rule Thai Raksa Chart’s fate next week
by Kas Chanwanpen Thai Raksa Chart Party will know its fate next week after the Constitutional Court yesterday scheduled March 7 to read its verdict on whether the party should be dissolved following a petition from the Election Commission (EC). The final judgement next week will be made based on the evidence submitted to the court earlier and there will…
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Using religion in your election campaign is OK: Election Commission
The Election Commission (EC) has ruled that it is acceptable to use religion and religious symbolism while campaigning for the upcoming general election. EC secretary-general Jarungwit Phumma said this decision was made in response to a petition from a Buddhist coordination centre, which questioned a candidate’s use of the Lord Buddha in his campaign banner. “Using religion is not against…
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PM disses debates “I just don’t see the necessity to take part”
by Kas Chanwanpen A prime ministerial candidate is refusing to take part in any of the televised political debates in the lead up to the election on March 24. Dismissing growing calls to join the up-coming round of debates, NCPO chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha has affirmed that he attached no importance to the calls for him to outline his vision,…
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Army chief’s intervention in election campaign backfires
by Jitraporn Sennawong and Nattaphat Phromkaew The Thai Army chief’s attempt to scare politicians from discussing the Army’s budget and reform by indirectly calling them “enemies of the state” has backfired. Many Thais have emerged with additional proposals for reforms of the military, and others are protesting the chief’s invocation of the jingoistic military anthem. Political critics and social media…
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Thai Raksa Chart say Princess was ‘nominated with her consent’
PHOTO: Prasert Thepsri – The Nation The embattled Thai Raksa Chart Party is defending its nomination of Princess Ubolratana as a prime ministerial candidate saying it was done at the wish and consent of the Princess. The party is fighting for its existence as the Charter Court mulls a dissolution of the party after a recommendation from the Election Commission.…
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Army Chief spits the dummy and orders the playing of military song
Contributors Jitraporn Sennawong and Kas Chanwanpen – The Nation If you’re the Thai Army Chief, and a bit miffed that some political parties are including scaling back military spending in their election policies, what do you do? Why of course you order Army radio stations in the Kingdom to play a jingoistic, and offensive to many, military-themed song, “Nak Phaendin”. Angry…
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2,810 MP candidates line up for March 24 election
107 candidates, for positions as Members of Parliament, and two prime ministerial candidates have been disqualified from running in the March Thai general election. Of the 2,917 party-list registered candidates, from 77 political parties, 2,810 candidates and 68 prime ministerial candidates from 44 parties have qualified after being checked by the Election Commission. While the EC didn’t disclose the names…
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Thailand’s Constitutional Court accepts case to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart
Thailand’s Constitutional Court has voted unanimously to accept the Election Commission’s ruling that the Thai Raksa Chart party be disbanded over its nomination of Princess Ubolratana as its prime ministerial candidate last Friday. The party will be given seven days to present its defence in writing before the Court deliberates on the party’s future. Meanwhile electioneering is continuing for the…
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Constitutional Court meets today to rule on future of Thai Raksa Chart
PHOTO: Thai Raksa Chart party leader Preechaphol Pongpanit awaits the decision of the Constitutional Court today whether to proceed with the case to disband the party The Constitutional Court is meeting today to decide whether or not to consider the request of the Election Commission to have the Thai Raksa Chart Party dissolved for breaching the political parties act. The…
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The day that shook Thai politics
OPINION It was just another Friday except that it was also the final day that political parties were able to nominate MPs for the March 24 elections. And their proposed candidates for the role of the a Prime Minister following the election. PM Prayuth Chan-ocha would announce his candidacy sometime during the morning, the worst kept secret in Thai politics.…
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Constitutional Court to have final say: EC votes to disband Thai Raksa Chart
The Election Commission has voted unanimously to ask the Constitutional Court to consider disbanding the Thai Raksa Chart party. The decision leaves the pro-Thaksin Thai Raksa Chart in tatters with the national poll only six weeks away. The EC statement says that the commission reached the resolution to recommend the party’s dissolution to the Constitutional Court last night after finding the…
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EC meets tomorrow to discuss Thai Raksa Chart’s controversial PM nomination
The Election Commission is expected to meet tomorrow (Monday) to deliberate the Thai Raksa Chart party’s future following their nomination of Princess Ubolratana as a prime ministerial candidate in the March 24 election. But the EC’s secretary-general, Jarungvith Phumma, has declined to comment on the matter when asked about the party’s surprise Friday PM candidate, saying only that “all issues would…
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Can the Princess be PM?
Analysis The Princess was nominated. Her brother, HM Thai King, objected. Thai Raksa Chart postponed their campaign launch on Saturday morning. The PM and Election Commission have stayed silent. With the weekend allowing cooler heads to sift through yesterday’s events, next week it is hoped some clarity will emerge about the Princess’ nomination as a prime ministerial candidate that threw…
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“I wish you all good luck and happiness” – Princess Ubolratana posts on Instagram
PHOTO: The four children of King Bhumibol, Rama 9 Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, elder sister to the Thai King, has posted a message on her Instagram account this morning thanking Thais for their love and support. The sister of His Majesty the King posted the message shortly after 6am. His Majesty prohibited her from standing in the upcoming election…
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Thai Raksa Chart Party cancels China Town campaign launch today
The Thai Raksa Chart Party has cancelled plans today to launch their election campaign in Bangkok’s China Town. This follows a dramatic day yesterday when the party dropped a political bombshell by announcing that Princess Ubolratana was the party’s sole candidate for prime minister. Thai Raksa Chart leader Preechaphol Pongpanit stunned the media when he submitted the name of Princess…
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“Princess cannot run for office” – King of Thailand
After a dramatic day in Thai politics yesterday, where the Thai Raksa Chart Party dropped a bombshell into the election campaign by nominating Princess Ubolratana, the King’s eldest sister, as a prime ministerial candidate, the drama continued last night with a statement from HM The King. The Thai monarch issued a strongly-worded statement around 11pm, prohibiting his older sister Princess Ubolratana…
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Election 2019: A challenge to the Princess’ nomination
PHOTO: The announcement this morning by the Thai Raksa Chart Party threw a political bombshell into the campaign – The Nation A leader of the People’s Reform Party has put in an urgent request for the Election Commission to rule whether the nomination of His Majesty the King’s eldest sister as a candidate for prime minister in the forthcoming election…
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“Compassion for the people” Thai Raksa Chart of Princess Ubolratana
The sister of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn is now seen as a leading prime ministerial candidate for a political party loyal to fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra in the March 24 elections. The Thai Raksa Chart party dropped the political bombshell this morning. 67 year old Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Varnavadi broke a long-standing tradition of Thai royalty staying out of…
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Prayut puts himself up as PM candidate in the March 24 Thai election
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has formally accepted an invitation to stand as prime minister candidate for the Palang Pracharath Party. The announcement has been expected for weeks. Gen Prayut, head of the NCPO, and PM since the 2014 coup announced his decision in a message to the Thai this morning. He made a plea for the ‘status quo’ saying that…
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Princess Ubolratana Mahidol runs as Prime Ministerial candidate in election
PHOTOS: Instagram In a stunning political move, Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, the eldest child of the late King Bhumibol, Rama 9, has been nominated by the Thai Raksa Chart party. Her nomination as a Prime Ministerial candidate immediately places the plans of current PM and the Junta-leaning Palang Pracharat party into disarray. To paint this as an ‘upset’ move in the last day of…
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