Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
An LED billboard, featuring exiled Thai scholar Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, from the Centre for Southeast Asian Students at Kyoto University, who is a well-known monarchy critic, as the new brand ambassador for “Ophtus” glasses has been abruptly removed from the Siam Square One shopping mall in Bangkok by Chulalongkorn University today (Friday). According
Tonight (Friday), a joint session of Thailand’s Senate and House of Representatives passed the first reading of three draft bills related to political parties, proposed by the cabinet, governing coalition parties, Palang Pracharath MP Anan Pholamnuay and his co-sponsors. The Cabinet draft was passed 597:11, with 14 abstentions. The Palang Pracharath drafts passed 577:19 and
The Bangkok South Criminal Court granted temporary and conditional bail to anti-establishment Ratsadon protest leader Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak today (Thursday) after it received a certificate, issued by the dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University, detailing his student’s status and need to attend final examinations. The bail was set at 200,000 baht
Thailand’s House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a long-awaited bill to criminalise torture and enforced disappearances in its final reading, with 359 votes in favour, one abstention and two deciding not to vote. The draft bill will need to be approved by the Senate in the next step before it is submitted for royal
Members of Thailand’s House and the Senate are scheduled to deliberate 10 draft bills attached to the electoral and political party acts today (Thursday) and tomorrow, as a key senator has hinted that one of the draft bills, proposed by the opposition Pheu Thai party to pave way for outsiders to dominate a party, will
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has developed a plan to evacuate about 250 Thai nationals in Ukraine, in case an emergency situation develops. MFA Spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said that the evacuation plan calls for the arrangement of a chartered flight, to fly the Thais out of Ukraine or to Lviv, a city close to
The Bangkok South Criminal Court rejected bail today (Wednesday) for two anti-establishment Ratsadon protest leaders, Anon Nampa and Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak. Yesterday, the Criminal Court granted them bail of 2,079,000 baht on other charges, but the two defendants remained held on remand because their guarantor using the Ratsadon fund, did not have enough cash to
More than six years after he fled Thailand to live in exile in Australia, Pol Maj-General Paween Pongsirin is back under the media spotlight. His role as chief investigator of a high-profile human smuggling case in 2015 was highlighted when opposition MP Rangsiman Rome from the opposition Move Forward Party criticized the Thai government for
Former New Economics Party leader Mingkwan Saengsuwan shocked Parliament when he resigned as a party-list MP during the debate to scrutinize the Prayut government last week. Mingkwan explained that he was unhappy with his legislative role over the past two years. But this is not the end of his political career, as he said he
The Ministry of Interior and the Office of the Election Commission are scheduled to meet today (Monday) to discuss the timing of Bangkok’s gubernatorial and city councillor and Pattaya City’s mayoral and city councillor elections. The proposed dates are Sunday May 22nd or Sunday May 29th. It is expected that the Interior Ministry will propose
During the debate in parliament today (Friday), the Thai prime minister was accused by the opposition of renewing a goldmining concession in exchange for Australia-based Kingsgate Consolidated Limited withdrawing the ongoing lawsuit seeking compensation from the Thai government for what it regards as the illegal closure of its goldmining operations in Thailand. In response, the
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stated clearly, during a parliamentary debate today (Friday), that he will not resign, after an opposition MP drafted a resignation letter on his behalf. “Yesterday, there was an effort to get me to resign, with the submission of a resignation letter. You can keep that for yourself. I’m not about to
