Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
The Thai Economic party has decided to leave the government to send a clear message to the public that the party is no longer allied with the administration of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Deputy Leader and Strategic Chief of the Thai Economic party, Wichit Plangsriskul, said today (Tuesday) that the party believes that its loss
Thai Liberal party candidate, Detthawee Srivichai, has won the by-election in Lampang province’s Constituency 4, beating his rival from the Thai Economic party, Wattana Sitthiwang, according unofficial poll results released late Sunday night. About 58% of the roughly 160,000 eligible voters cast their ballots. Thai Economic party leader, former deputy agriculture minister Thammanat Prompao, conceded
Thai Liberal party leader Sereepisuth Temeeyaves claimed today (Saturday) that he has evidence of vote buying by a candidate in the by-election in Constituency 4 of Lampang province, with voting scheduled to take place tomorrow. The former national police chief was in Koh Kha district of this northern province today to campaign for his party’s
Suranand Vejjajiva vowed to stay out of politics for good after the government of Yingluck Shinawatra – in which he served as secretary-general to the prime minister – was overthrown in the May 2014 military coup. Back then, he declared that “enough is enough” and has since focused on his café business. The 61-year-old’s Facebook
The opposition Pheu Thai party announced today (Thursday) that it will seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court over parliament’s resolution Wednesday night, opting for a change in the method used to calculate party-list House seats, which will benefit smaller parties at the expense of major parties, like the Pheu Thai, in the next general
Wednesday’s joint session of parliament rejected, by 341:150 votes with five abstentions, the proposal of the minority faction of House scrutiny committee for constituency and party ballots to be assigned the same numbers. The minority faction had claimed that assigning the same numbers would be less confusing for the voters. Under the two-ballot electoral system,
Thailand’s 12-billion-baht Parliament complex opened in May last year after eight years of construction – yet it is still drawing complaints of defects and quality issues. Since its inception in 1992, the project to build a new Parliament building — Thailand’s third — has run into problem after problem. It took many years and governments
The government and the opposition have reached an agreement that the censure debate will last four days, from July 19th to 22nd, with voting to take place on July 23rd, and the opposition will be given 45 hours to speak, in the fourth and last debate against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his cabinet. Opposition
The Supreme Court has upheld the two-year prison sentence, imposed by two lower courts, on former Democrat MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thepthai Senpong, after finding him guilty of electoral fraud. The Supreme Court’s decision was read today at Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial court. Thepthai has also been banned from contesting an election and
Government chief whip Nirote Sunthornlekha has warned the opposition that the plan by some of its MPs to question the government over last week’s incursion by a Myanmar MiG-29 jet into Thai airspace, over Tak province, may undermine the country’s national security, which could be deemed a criminal offence. Calling the plan nonsensical, he said
Bangkok’s Dusit district office has ordered an investigation to find out who arbitrarily changed the name of the Pibulsongkram Bridge at Kiak Kai intersection, near the parliament building, to “Tharab Bridge”. The perpetrators used an acrylic board, bearing the name of Tharab and the year 2565 B.E. (2022), to cover the old name of the
Chief of Thailand’s Parliamentary Committee on Corruption Prevention and Suppression, Pol Gen Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, received a complaint on Thursday seeking an investigation of members of the Senate and their appointment of family members as assistants. Submitted by Thai Sang Thai Party’s communications director, Treerat Sirichantaropas, the complaint sought a ruling on whether the practice was
