Some parts of theGovernment of Thailand are selected through democratic elections. These include theHouse of Representatives of Thailand, (which combines with the appointedSenate of Thailand to create theNational Assembly of Thailand),local Administrations,Governorship of Bangkok and nationalreferendums.Thailand has so far had 29 general elections since 1933; thelast election was in 2026. Voting in elections in Thailand iscompulsory. All elections in Thailand are regulated by theElection Commission of Thailand.

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Move Forward Party	14,438,851	37.99	39	9,665,433	25.40	112	151
	Pheu Thai Party	10,962,522	28.84	29	9,340,082	24.54	112	141
	United Thai Nation Party	4,766,408	12.54	13	3,607,575	9.48	23	36
	Bhumjaithai Party	1,138,202	2.99	3	5,133,441	13.49	68	71
	Democrat Party (Thailand)	925,349	2.43	3	2,278,857	5.99	22	25
	Prachachart Party	602,645	1.59	2	334,051	0.88	7	9
	Palang Pracharath Party	537,625	1.41	1	4,186,441	11.00	39	40
	Thai Liberal Party	351,376	0.92	1	277,007	0.73	0	1
	Thai Sang Thai Party	340,178	0.90	1	872,893	2.29	5	6
	New Democracy Party (Thailand)	273,428	0.72	1	13,583	0.04	0	1
	New Party (Thailand)	249,731	0.66	1	1,365	0.00	0	1
	Chart Pattana Kla Party	212,676	0.56	1	297,946	0.78	1	2
	Party of Thai Counties	201,411	0.53	1	1,202	0.00	0	1
	Chart Thai Pattana Party	192,497	0.51	1	585,205	1.54	9	10
	Fair Party (Thailand)	184,817	0.49	1	9,653	0.03	0	1
	New Social Power Party	177,379	0.47	1	20,353	0.05	0	1
	Thai Teachers for People Party	175,182	0.46	1	4,464	0.01	0	1
	Power Party	156,493	0.41	0	2,807	0.01	0	0
	Pheu Chart Thai Party	134,833	0.35	0	19,869	0.05	0	0
	Nation Building Labour Party	130,147	0.34	0	1,200	0.00	0	0
	Thai Pakdee Party	103,472	0.27	0	97,513	0.26	0	0
	Thai Prompt Party	82,965	0.22	0	1,930	0.01	0	0
	Thailand's Future Party	81,718	0.22	0	2,342	0.01	0	0
	New Alternative Party (Thailand)	79,190	0.21	0	11,691	0.03	0	0
	Thai Ruam Thai Party	72,988	0.19	0	996	0.00	0	0
	Ruam Jai Thai Party	72,719	0.19	0	431	0.00	0	0
	Pheu Thai Ruam Palang	67,692	0.18	0	94,345	0.25	2	2
	For the Nation Party	59,571	0.16	0	43,946	0.12	0	0
	Thai Network Party	58,010	0.15	0	107	0.00	0	0
	Thai Citizen Party	57,098	0.15	0	4,165	0.01	0	0
	Change Party (Thailand)	53,706	0.14	0	5,089	0.01	0	0
	Thai Chana Party	45,321	0.12	0	2,443	0.01	0	0
	Power Thai Party	44,131	0.12	0	333	0.00	0	0
	Thai Progress Party	35,094	0.09	0	1,556	0.00	0	0
	Action Coalition Party	33,844	0.09	0	1,553	0.00	0	0
	New Palangdharma Party	33,770	0.09	0	1,593	0.00	0	0
	New Dimension Party	33,558	0.09	0	2,071	0.01	0	0
	Thai Population Party	32,428	0.09	0	3,304	0.01	0	0
	Thai Civilized Party	23,721	0.06	0	33,764	0.09	0	0
	Future Change Party	23,381	0.06	0	1,355	0.00	0	0
	Green Party (Thailand)	22,047	0.06	0	1,597	0.00	0	0
	Thai Morality Party	21,022	0.06	0	765	0.00	0	0
	People Progressive Party	17,686	0.05	0	1,307	0.00	0	0
	Siamese Power Party	17,076	0.04	0	455	0.00	0	0
	Thai One Party	13,605	0.04	0	2,528	0.01	0	0
	Thai Forest Conservation Party	12,601	0.03	0	1,621	0.00	0	0
	Equality Party (Thailand)	11,816	0.03	0	1,577	0.00	0	0
	Thailand Together Party	11,010	0.03	0	89,389	0.23	0	0
	New Aspiration Party	10,891	0.03	0	1,195	0.00	0	0
	Land of Dharma Party	10,875	0.03	0	707	0.00	0	0
	The New Way Party	10,690	0.03	0	17,436	0.05	0	0
	Thai Smart Party	10,463	0.03	0	12,295	0.03	0	0
	Zen-Dai Party	10,410	0.03	0	8,440	0.02	0	0
	Cooperative Power Party	10,158	0.03	0	216	0.00	0	0
	For the Thai Future Party	10,001	0.03	0	897	0.00	0	0
	Palang Thai Rak Chart Party	9,174	0.02	0	132	0.00	0	0
	Democratic Force Party	8,818	0.02	0	296	0.00	0	0
	Klong Thai Party	7,959	0.02	0	50,948	0.13	0	0
	Save the Nation Party	7,759	0.02	0	4,638	0.01	0	0
	Commoners' Party (Thailand)	6,509	0.02	0	0	0.00	0	0
	Rat Withi Party	6,172	0.02	0	4,317	0.01	0	0
	Thai Social Democratic Party	5,860	0.02	0	934	0.00	0	0
	Social Power Party	5,561	0.01	0	356	0.00	0	0
	Thinkakhao Chaovilai Party	5,534	0.01	0	876	0.00	0	0
	Thai People Power Party	5,022	0.01	0	20,940	0.06	0	0
	Chat Rung Rueang Party	4,433	0.01	0	436	0.00	0	0
	Paradonraphab Party	3,455	0.01	0	637	0.00	0	0
	Palang Burapha Party	0	0.00	0	889	0.00	0	0
	Ruktam Party	0	0.00	0	232	0.00	0	0
	Harmony People's Party	0	0.00	0	65	0.00	0	0
None of the above		482,303	1.27	0	866,885	2.28	0	0
Total		38,005,037	100.00	100	38,056,960	100.00	400	500

Elections are held under universal suffrage in accordance with the2007 Constitution; however, certain restrictions apply:

• The voter must be a national of Thailand; if not by birth, then by being a citizen for 5 years.
• They must be over 18 years old the year before the year the election is held.
• The voter must have also registered ninety days before the election at his constituency.
• Those barred from voting in House elections are: members of thesangha orclergy, those suspended from the privilege (for various reasons),^[which?] detainees under legal or court orders, and people of unsound mind or of mental infirmity.^{[clarification needed]}

Regarding universal suffrage, Thailand (and Siam) has given women right to vote in national election since 1932, and in village election since 1897, which could make Thailand the second country in the world to do so.^[1]

TheHouse of Representatives consists of 500 members, of which 350 are directly elected through thefirst past the post system in which each member represents one "constituency". The other 150 is elected throughparty lists given to theelection commission by thepolitical parties before election day.^[2] In the current system as laid out by the 2017 constitution, known as "mixed member apportionment (MMA)", the voter casts a single vote for a constituencyMP, which is then also used in the calculation of the party list seats. This differs from the previous 2007 constitution, where the vote for constituency MP and party list MP were separate.^[3]

Special elections can be called if the candidate fail to pass the commission's standards (known as yellow-cards) or if a vacancy occurs. The commission also have the authority to annul or ban candidates based on their standards (red-cards). The House has a term of four years^[4] but may be dissolved before that time.^[5]

The current 250 senators of theSenate of Thailand were not elected, but were appointed by theNational Council for Peace and Order, the military junta which ruled Thailand from 2014 to the 2019 general election.^[6] The 2017 constitution does not include elections for the Senate.

In the previous 2007 constitution, the Senate was composed of 150 members. Of these, 76 were directly elected, while 74 members were appointed. Of the elected members, 75 came from theProvinces of Thailand, and one from theBangkok Metropolitan Area. The election was based on thefirst past the post system. Thelast election for the Senate under this system occurred in 2014. Under the 2017 constitution, the Senate is indirectly elected by the candidate pool. The most recent election was held in2024.

The Senate is a non-partisan chamber and therefore candidates cannot be a member of a political party. Terms are fixed at six years.

There are three different levels of municipalities (Thai:เทศบาล), which all elect their own municipal council and mayor. The municipalities are split into constituencies, which each elect six councillors. The number of constituencies depends on the municipal level.

• thesaban nakhon (city): 4 constituencies, 24 councillors.
• thesaban mueang (town): 3 constituencies, 18 councillors.
• thesaban tambon (subdistrict municipality): 2 constituencies, 12 councillors.

TheTambon Administrative Organizations, a local government similar to the municipalities, also has an elected council and mayor. Every administrative village within the TAO sends two councillors to the council, only if there are less than three villages the number of councillors per villages is increased to reach the minimum size of six councillors.Pattaya as a special administrative area has a council with 24 seats and an elected mayor, same as a city.

Additionally, every province has a province-wide local government named theProvincial Administrative Organization with an elected council and chairman. The size of the council depends on the population of the province.

For all the local governments, the electoral term is four years. If a councillor positions becomes vacant, a by-election is held in the corresponding constituency, if a mayor position becomes vacant, a new election for a four-year term is held. Thus elections for mayor and council are not necessarily on the same date.

Bangkok is divided into 50 local district councils, one for every district. The size of these councils differ between 7 and 8. Additionally, there are 61 seats in theBangkok Metropolitan Council (BMC). The election follow a four-year cycle. The most recent local election was in 2022.

TheGovernor of Bangkok is the only elected Governor in the country. The Governor holds a four-year renewable term. The election does not coincide with that of the district councils or the BMC. The most recent election for Governor of Bangkok was in 2022.

There has only been three constitutionalreferendums, in 2007, 2016, and 2026

There have been many issues especially in recent years concerning elections in Thailand. Accusations ofvote buying and blackmail have been most cited. Most accusations leveled concern vote buying, particularly in rural areas where representatives of political parties or district captains are sent out offering up to 2,000 Baht for a vote. Others concern cheating and ballot tampering.

Other issues concern the powers of theElection Commission, an unelected and unaccountable body of five, which has absolute authority to cancel elections at will. It is also the sole arbiter and interpreter of Thai election laws. It has been incredibly active in the last two general elections in annulling and disqualifying candidates.

Voter turnout during elections is not much of a problem in Thailand as voting is compulsory and is one of the responsibilities described in theConstitution a citizen must exercise. Turnout is however much higher during general elections (85% in 2007, 75% in 2019^[7]) than they are for Senate (56% in 2008, 43% in 2014^[8]) or local elections (54% for Bangkok Governor in 2008).

• 2000 Thai Senate election
• 2006 Thai Senate election
• 2008 Thai Senate election
• 2014 Thai Senate election

• Censorship in Thailand
• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Thailand Electoral Commission
• Thailand at theConsortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)

• Elections in Thailand

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2014
• Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2014
• Articles containing Thai-language text