2024 Thai Senate election

2024 Thai Senate election

July 9, 2024

All 200 seats in the Senate

Party % Seats +/– Independents 200 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. President of the Senate before Pornpetch Wichitcholchai

Senate elections will be held in Thailand for the first time under the 2017 Constitution. Under the Constitution, the transitional Senate of Thailand will be dissolved on May 10, 2024. Afterwards, the Senate will transition to a 200-member, partially-elected body. Political parties do not contest Senate elections, thus all senators will be independents.

This will be the first election to utilize the highly complex electoral system envisioned by the 2018 Organic Act on the Acquisition of Senators.

Background

The Thai Senate has undergone several reformations since it was originally established in 1947. On various occasions, the Senate has been appointed, directly elected, indirectly elected, or some combination of these. Under the present 2017 Constitution, which was promulgated in the aftermath of the 2014 Thai coup d'état, the Senate is indirectly elected via a highly complex election system, intended to produce a technocratic institution.

However, the Constitiution provided for a transitional Senate appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order, the military junta that governed Thailand from the coup in 2014 until 2019. Because of this transitional provision, this election will be the first held under the new system. The transitional Senate is composed of 250 members, overwhelmingly supportive of the junta and former Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The transitional Senate had the power to vote for Prime Minister, alongside members of the House of Representatives. This provision came under intense public scrutiny during the 2023 Prime Ministerial election, when Senators refused to back the election of Pita Limjaroenrat, despite a large majority of the House supporting his candidacy. The permanent Senate will not have the power to vote for Prime Minister.

The transitional Senate is scheduled to be dissolved on May 10, 2024.

2023 elections

Main article: 2023 Thai general election

The government of Prayut Chan-o-cha was defeated in a landslide in the 2023 House of Representatives elections. The Move Forward Party won the most seats, with Pheu Thai Party in second place. An attempt to form a coalition government between the two parties failed, after Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to be elected Prime Minister, largely because of opposition from the conservative Senate.

Instead, the government was formed by Pheu Thai's Srettha Thavisin. The Srettha Cabinet is supported by the conservative Bhumjaithai Party and Chart Thai Pattana Party, as well as Prayut-aligned parties such as Palang Pracharath Party and United Thai Nation Party.

Electoral system

The permanent Senate of Thailand is composed of 200 senators, chosen by and among "persons having the knowledge, expertise, experience, profession, or characteristics or common interests or working or having worked in varied areas of the society". It is a non-partisan body, and all candidates will run as independents. Senators serve five-year terms. There are term limits: senators can only serve one term. The rules for the election are laid down in the 2018 Organic Act on the Acquisition of Senators.

Candidates must be Thai nationals by birth, at least 40 years old, and have a minimum of 10 years expirence in their field. They must have some connection to the district they seek to contest in. They must also pay a 2,500 baht (USD $67.46) application fee. Candidates cannot be members of a political party. Also prohibited from contesting are civil servants, MPs (members of the House), former MPs, former government ministers, former local administrators, former political party executives (unless they have been out of their post for at least five years), parents, spouses and children of senatorial candidates. Members of the transitional Senate cannot run.

Senators are elected from applicant candidates, by the candidates themselves. Each candidate applies to represent one of 20 eligible groups, and ten senators will be elected from each group. There are six rounds of voting, two each at the district, provincial, and national level. At the district level, the candidates will vote within their group. In each district, the five candidates in each group with the most votes will proceed to the second round. In the second round, each candidate will be assigned 3-5 random groups (other than their own), and vote for the candidates in those groups. The top three candidates in each group in each district will then proceed, for a total of 60 candidates in each district.

The process will then move on to the provincial level, on June 29. Because the number of districts in each province varies (anywhere between three and 50), the number of candidates in each province will vary significantly. Candidates will first narrow the number of candidates in their group to 5. They will then again vote for candidates in other groups. They may or may not be assigned the same groups to vote in at the provincial level than at the district level. There will now be 2 candidates in each group in each province, for a total of 3,080 remaining candidates nationwide.

The process will then move on to the national level, where the remaning 3,080 candidates will repeat the intra and inter-group voting to elect 10 senators from each of the 20 groups.

The number of candidates each voter is allowed to vote for varies depending on the round. The system lends itself to limited voting. At the district and provincial level, each voter will have two votes within their group, and one vote for the inter-group election. At the national level, a voter may have ten votes for the intra-group election, and five for the inter-group election. The candidates with the most votes will proceed, and all others will be eliminated. There is no minimum threshold of votes required to be elected. Candidates may vote for themselves in the intra-group elections. A voter may not cast more than one vote for a single candidate. A voter does not need to use all of their votes.

Summary of election process

Round	Date	Level	Candidates progressing			Election rules
			In group	All groups	Across Thailand
1	June 22	In each of the 928 districts	5	100	92,800	Limited voting (2 votes)
2			3	60	55,680	Single non-transferable vote (SNTV)
3	June 29	In each of the 77 provinces	5	100	7,700	Limited voting (2 votes)
4			2	40	3,080	Single non-transferable vote (SNTV)
5	July 9	Across Thailand	40	800		Limited voting (10 votes)
6			10	200		Limited voting (5 votes)

Criticism

The electoral system is controversial. Critics have refered to it as "the most complicated election in the world".

Other criticism centers on the system's alleged vulnerability to manipulation. Because any eligible person can run, district-level elections can be packed in order to ensure the election of particular candidates. The 2018 election for the transitional Senate utilized a similar system, although most senators were ultimatly selected by the junta. Candidates who participated in the process alleged vote buying, saying that desired candidates utilized their professional connections to be elected.

Results

The Election Commission is expected to publish the list of elected senators in the Royal Gazette in mid-July.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Independents	0	–	200	50
Total		0	–	200	–
Valid votes		0	–
Invalid/blank votes		0	–
Total votes		0	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		0	–