(Bangkok, 8th) The election for Thailand's House of Representatives opened for voting at 8 a.m. local time on the 8th. There are 99,000 polling stations nationwide, providing about 50 million voters the opportunity to elect 500 members of parliament.
Voters are required to obtain three ballots: one for supporting their constituency candidate, one for their preferred party, and one for participating in the constitutional referendum held simultaneously.
According to Thai law, among the 500 members of the House of Representatives, 400 are elected based on constituency votes, and 100 are allocated to parties proportionally according to the results. The outcome of the constitutional referendum will determine whether the parliament initiates the constitutional amendment process.
Voting will end at 5 p.m., and preliminary counting results are expected to be released that evening. The official counting results must be announced by April 9 at the latest. The new parliament must convene within 15 days to elect a speaker, after which the new prime minister will be chosen by a vote in the House of Representatives.
According to statistics from the Thai Election Commission, a total of 57 parties are vying for seats and have nominated more than 90 candidates for prime minister. Public opinion generally believes that the competition will still center around the Bhumjaithai Party, the People's Party, and the Pheu Thai Party. It is unlikely that a single party will win enough seats to form a cabinet alone, and the formation of a new cabinet will require coalition-building among parties.