BANGKOK, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Thailand is set to hold parliamentary elections on February 8, the election commission said in a statement on Monday, in an earlier-than-expected poll that comes after Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved parliament last week.
The move came after Anutin fell out with the opposition People’s Party, the largest grouping in parliament, plunging Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy into political turmoil amid a raging border conflict with neighbouring Cambodia.
Thais will vote to elect 500 lawmakers, with 400 constituency seats and 100 allocated on a party-list basis, and each party can submit up to three prime ministerial candidates.
Official poll results will be announced by April 9, the election commission said, after which the new parliament must convene within 15 days to elect speakers and then vote in a prime minister.
Thailand’s third prime minister since August 2023, Anutin had won the support of the People’s Party for his premiership bid in September on condition that he started the process to amend the constitution and then dissolved the house by the end of January.
A seasoned dealmaker, Anutin, 59, stands to gain from a wave of nationalism sweeping through Thailand as its military fights Cambodia in the name of defending Thai sovereignty.
However, opinion polls consistently show the People’s Party is Thailand’s most popular and is likely to be a force to be reckoned with. Its previous incarnation, known as the Move Forward Party, won the last election in 2023.
(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panu Wongcha-um, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Editing by John Mair and David Stanway)