At Stake in this Election: 

• All 500 seats of the Thai House of Representatives 

Government Structure:  

• Chief of State: King Maha VAJIRALONGKORN / Rama X (since 1 December 2016) 

• Head of Government: Prime Minister PRAYUT Chan-o-cha (since July 2019) 

• Prayut carried out a coup in 2014 and was appointed interim prime minister shortly thereafter. He was formally nominated and approved by parliament in 2019. 

• Assembly: bicameral National Assembly (Ratthasapha / รัฐสภา) including a 250-seat Senate (Wuthisapha / วุฒิสภา) and a 500-seat House of Representatives (Saphaphuthan Rasadon / สภาผู้แทนราษฎร) 

Electoral System:  

• The King is a hereditary monarch. 

• The Prime Minister is nominated by the House of Representatives and Senate, and then confirmed by the King. The Prime Minister may serve for up to 8 years. 

• From 2024 on, the Senate will not participate in the nomination process. 

• All 250 senators are selected by the National Council for Peace and Order (คสช.) and appointed by the King, and they serve 5-year terms. In 2024, the Senate will be reduced to 200 seats. 

• In the House of Representatives, 400 members are directly elected by plurality vote in single-seat constituencies. The remaining 100 members are elected by party-list proportional representation vote in a single nationwide constituency. All members serve 4-year terms. 

Last Election: 

In 2019, the Pheu Thai Party won the most seats (136), followed by Palang Pracharath (116), Future Forward (81), the Democrat Party (52), and Bhumjaithai Party (51). Twenty-one additional parties also won seats. Voter turnout was 74.69%. 

New/Unique in this Election:  

Voters will receive two ballots: one with candidates in the relevant single-seat constituency and one with party lists for the national seats. This ballot system was introduced in 2001 and was briefly replaced by a single ballot for the 2019 election. The seat distribution will also change slightly, from 350 single-seat constituency representatives to 400 and from 150 party-list representatives to 100. 

Key Deadlines: 

• Candidate filing deadline: 7 April 2023 

• Voter registration deadline: N/A, registration is automatic and compulsory 

• Overseas and early voting (7 May) voter registration deadline: 9 April 2023 

Main Parties in this Election:  

• Pheu Thai / พรรครวมไทยสร้างชาติ 

• Leader: CHOLANAN Srikaew 

• Seats won in last election: 136 out of 500 

• United Thai Nation / พรรคเพื่อไทย 

• Leader: PRAYUT Chan-o-cha 

• Seats won in last election: 0 out of 500 (founded in 2021) 

• Palang Pracharath / พรรคพลังประชารัฐ 

• Leader: PRAWIT Wongsuwan 

• Seats won in last election: 116 out of 500 

• Move Forward / พรรคก้าวไกล 

• Leader: PITA Limjaroenrat 

• Seats won in last election: 0 out of 500  

• Formed by members of the dissolved Future Forward party (81 out of 500 seats) 

• Bhumjaithai / พรรคภูมิใจไทย 

• Leader: ANUTIN Charnvirakul 

• Seats won in last election: 51 out of 500 

• Democrat Party / พรรคประชาธิปัตย์ 

• Leader: JURIN Laksanawisit 

• Seats won in last election: 52 out of 500 

• Chart Thai Pattana / พรรคชาติไทยพัฒนา 

• Leader: VARAWUT Silpa-archa 

• Seats won in last election: 10 out of 500  

• Thai Sang Thai / พรรคไทยสร้างไทย 

• Leader: SUDARAT Keyuraphan 

• Seats won in last election: 0 out of 500 (founded in 2021) 

Population and Registered Voters: 

• Population: 71,801,279 (2023 est.) 

• Registered Voters: 51,239,638 (2019) 

Gender Data: 

• Female Population: 36,821,169 (2023 est.) 

• CEDAW Status: Ratified (by accession) 9 August 1985  

• Gender Quota: None 

• Female Candidates in this election: Yes 

• Number of Female Legislators (pre-election): 74 out of 445 (16.6%) in the House of Representatives and 26 out of 249 (10.4%) in the Senate 

• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.800, Very High, Rank 66 (2021) 

• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: 26.8 (2023)  

Disability Data: 

• CRPD Status: Signed 30 March 2007, Ratified 29 July 2008 

• Projected population with a disability: 1,579,628 (2023 est.) 

IFES Resources: 

• Does IFES have a presence in Thailand: Yes, programming  

• Election Access: Yes 

• Election Judgements: Yes; 8 resources