Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
YANGON (Reuters) – Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act walked free from prison on Tuesday after more than 500 days behind bars. Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail in a case
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha confirmed today that at least 15 members of his Cabinet are resigning to prepare to take up seats in the military-appointed Senate and insisted that his government will continue to function despite the mass resignations. The resignations will take effect either tomorrow and Thursday. Their resignations are in anticipation of
The Palang Pracharat party is confident it will be able to muster more than 250 MPs to form a majority coalition government after the Election Commission today announced the official election results in 349 constituencies, the one exception being Chiang Mai’s Constituency Eight. Deputy party spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said today that the party is also
The Constitutional Court is expected to decide tomorrow whether to accept the ombudsman’s petition challenging the constitutionality of the committee tasked withselecting senators. The petition, which was submitted to the Office of the Constitutional Court on May 3rd, was in response to a complaint filed with the Ombudsmen’s Office by a political group calledthe “National Thai Citizen Group”, and challenges the constitutionality of the senator selection committee headed by Deputy Prime...
Thailand’s post-election government is expected to be formed in June, if the Election Commission (EC) is able to announce the official results of the March 24th general election by May 8th and endorse the 250 junta-appointed senators three days later, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngarm on Thursday. He also hinted that some
One militant, wanted by authorities, was shot dead by security forces in a raid on a hideout in Nong Chik district of Thailand’s southernmost province of Pattani Thursday afternoon. The victim was later identified as Sarisan Amri, 37, who was the subject of five outstanding arrest warrants for his suspected involvement in a series
The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday disqualified eleven election candidates, representing seven smaller parties, for alleged violations of the election law. According to the EC, the 11 candidates committed one or more of the following violations: Holding party memberships in more than one party Being a party member for less than 90 days/not being a
The Future Forward party is hitting back at maverick political activist Srisuwan Janya in retaliation for the latter’s campaign against the party, including the latest petition to the Election Commission to disqualify 11 candidates for alleged media shareholding. The complaint was lodged with the Thung Song Hong police station today by the 11 Future Forward
Thailand’s Constitutional Court has agreed to accept for consideration a petition, sent through the ombudsmen by former Thai Raksa Chart candidate Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, to determine whether the rule on party-list seat calculation in the election law is constitutional. A former legal advisor to the Pheu Thai party, Mr. Ruangkrai, contends that Article 128 of the
Refusing to accept defeat in Nakhon Pathom’s confused Constituency One election, allegedly caused by vote count flip-flopping, the Future Forward party has reiterated its demand for an election re-run to clear the air once and for all. In a statement issued today (Wednesday), the party claimed that the ballots cast in Constituency One had been
The pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai party is demanding that the Election Commission (EC) disband the pro-Prayut Palang Pracharat party on the grounds that an executive committee member of the party is the proprietor and shareholder of a media company. A petition was submitted to the EC’s Office today (Wednesday) by Mr. Narong Rungthanawong, head of Pheu
Many election candidates from the other parties will be disqualified if the Election Commission (EC) applies the same standard used against his party’s candidates, said Future Forward party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit this afternoon (Tuesday) before meeting with the EC to submit his defence. Claiming that the party has information on candidates from the other parties,
