The long-awaited Royal Decree on the election of members of the parliament has been promulgated today after it was signed by His Majesty the King and published in the Royal Gazette.

The promulgation of the decree marks a significant step for the election date to be set within five days by the Election Commission as constitutionally required.

Initially, the election date was tentatively set for February 24.  But it would have overlapped with the schedules of activities related to the coronation ceremony scheduled for May 4-6.

Earlier last week, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngarm indicated that the suitable date for the election should be March 24.

The March 24 timeline is well within the 150-day timeframe that the election must be held.

Now that the Royal decree was enacted, the Election Commission will have to set the date of the election which is likely to be March 24 which means application for election candidacy would take place between February 4-8 and this process will take five days.