It has been officially confirmed that the much-awaited election will take place on February 24, 2019 with advance voting scheduled for February 17, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.
He said the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) confirmed the election date during a meeting with representatives of political parties at the Army Club. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha but boycotted by major political parties, including the Democrat and Pheu Thai.
Wissanu said NCPO also promised to lift political restrictions this month before the promulgation of the Royal Decree on the election of members of the parliament on January 2 to be followed by an announcement of the Election Commission on January 4 of the election date on February 24.
Following is the roadmap confirmed at the meeting:
December 20: The Election Commission (EC) will announce regulations for the election of MPs.
December 28: The government will stop submitting bills to the National Legislative Assembly.
January 2: Political parties can start campaigning after the EC announces the enforcement of the Royal Decree on the election of MPs.
January 4: The EC issues an announcement setting the election date for February 24 and the dates for the acceptance of applications of poll candidacy for constituency MPs and party-list MPs between January 14-18. Contesting parties must also each submit a list of three candidates for the premiership during this period of applications for poll candidacy.
January 25: Name lists of all the constituency and party-list candidates of all parties are announced.
February 4-16: Advance voting for overseas voters.
February 17: Advance voting for voters in the country.
February 24: The election day.
April 25: The last day of the announcement of the election results.
April 28: The last day of the selection of 250 senators by the NCPO.
May 9: The first joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Senate and the voting for the prime minister from the list of candidates nominated by parties contesting the election.
