Senatorial Election March 2, 2008

Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The monarchy is hereditary. Interim Prime Minister is elected by parliament to serve a 4-year term, renewable once. In the Senate (Wuthisapha), 74 of the 150 members are appointed by a seven-person panel composed of bureaucrats and judicial officials, following nominations presented by various sectors of society, and 76 members are elected by popular vote. In the House of Representatives (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon), 320 of the 400 members are elected in multi-member constituencies and 80 members are elected by proportional representation.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

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Description of government structure:

Chief of State: King BHUMIBOL Adulyade

Head of Government: Interim Prime Minister SURAYUT Chulanon **

Assembly: Thailand has a bicameral Bicameral National Assembly consisting of the Senate (Wuthisapha) with 150 seats and the House of
Representatives (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon) with 400 seats.

** Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat was overthrown on 19 September 2006 in a coup led by General SONTHI Boonyaratglin.

General Election 2007

(courtesy of wikipedia)

The 2007 Thai general elections were held on 23 December. Two exit polls gave the PPP (People's Power Party) a clear first place, with either 256 to the Democrats' 162 seats (giving them an absolute majority of the 480 seats) or with 202 to the Democrats' 146. Four smaller parties also took seats. While the Democrats' acknowledged their election defeat and stated it was the PPP's right to form the government, it is unclear what the military will do now, as the PPP is based mostly on former TRT supporters.

The preliminary final results gave the PPP 226 seats, the Democrat Party 166 seats and Chart Thai 39 seats. For the Motherland got 26 seats, Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana 10, the Neutral Democratic Party 7 and Pracharat 4 seats.

PPP is now in coalition talks, but the third and fourth party are reportedly under pressure from the military government not to support PPP.[21] The PPP stated on 2007-12-24, however, that they had already achieved the necessary support.

Thai constitutional referendum, 2007

(courtesy of wikipedia)

A referendum on the new constitution was held in Thailand on 19 August 2007. Had the draft been rejected, the military government would have had the freedom to choose any previous constitution to adapt and promulgate instead. Turnout was around 60%.

 Major changes in the proposed constitution included:

    * Making almost half of Senators appointed rather than elected.

    * Limiting the Prime Minister to two four year terms.

    * Banning the Prime Minister from major holdings in private companies.

    * Making it easier to impeach the Prime Minister.

General Election 2006

(courtesy of wikipedia)

General elections were held in Thailand in April 2006. Elections for the lower house of the Thai National Assembly, the House of Representatives, were held on 2 April 2006 and elections for the upper house, the Senate, were held on 19 April 2006. The Constitutional Court later invalidated the House of Representatives election results and ordered a new round of voting.

The ruling Thais Love Thais (TRT) party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a majority seats in the House of Representatives, partly as a result of the decision by the major opposition parties to boycott the elections. Nearly complete results show that TRT won 61% of the valid vote and about 460 of the 500 seats. Despite this, Thaksin announced his resignation two days after the election.

Although TRT easily won the election in terms of both votes and seats, the results were seen by Thaksin's opponents and media critics as a rejection of his call for an overwhelming mandate. In parts of Bangkok and in southern Thailand, most TRT candidates were elected on minority votes after the majority of voters used the "abstain" option on their ballot papers. In a number of southern seats TRT candidates failed to poll the required 20% of registered voters, rendering these southern seats invalid and resulting in party dissolution charges against Thai Rak Thai and Democrat Parties. TRT won all the seats in the Northern and North-Eastern (Isan) regions, and also in the Central region apart from Bangkok.

The election was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court, and new elections would have be held in October, but were canceled by the military that led a coup against the Thai government.