, Ratchaburi

Ratchaburi Province

Ratchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom,Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and Phetchaburi...

, Phetchaburi

Phetchaburi Province

Phetchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram and Prachuap Khiri Khan...

, Prachuap Khiri Khan

Prachuap Khiri Khan Province

Prachuap Khiri Khan is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi in the north and Chumphon in the south. To the west it borders Tanintharyi Division of Myanmar....

, Chumphon

Chumphon Province

Chumphon ) is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani and Ranong...

, Ranong

Ranong Province

Ranong is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea. It is the province with the fewest citizens. Neighboring provinces are Chumphon, Surat Thani and Phang Nga...

, Chai Nat, Sing Buri

Sing Buri Province

Sing Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri and Chai Nat....

, Ang Thong

Ang Thong Province

Ang Thong is one of the central provinces of Thailand. The name means "golden bowl" which refer to Angthong as a central for prosperity as it has a lot of rice fields....

, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya Province

Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ang Thong, Lop Buri, Saraburi, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri....

, Saraburi

Saraburi Province

Saraburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya. Saraburi has been an important town since ancient times...

, Samut Sakhon

Samut Sakhon Province

Samut Sakhon ) is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.- Etymology :...

, and Samut Songkhram

Samut Songkhram Province

Samut Songkhram ) is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon. Local people call Samut Songkhram Mae Klong. The province is the smallest of all Thai provinces areawise...

Area 8 : 12 provinces with 7,941,622 population - Surat Thani

Surat Thani Province

Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means City of Good People, the title given to the city by King Vajiravudh ....

, Phang Nga

Phang Nga Province

Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the shore to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Ranong, Surat Thani and Krabi. To the south is the Phuket province, but without land boundary to Phang Nga....

, Nakhon Si Thammarat

Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Nakhon Si Thammarat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand...

, Krabi

Krabi Province

Krabi is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Andaman Sea. Neighbouring provinces are Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang. The Phuket province to the west is also neighbouring, but without any land boundary...

, Phuket

Phuket Province

Phuket , formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon , is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...

, Trang

Trang Province

Trang is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the western shore of the Malay Peninsula to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Satun....

, Phatthalung

Phatthalung Province

Phatthalung is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Satun and Trang.-Geography:...

, Satun

Satun Province

Satun is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla...

, Songkhla

Songkhla Province

Songkhla is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia....

, Pattani

Pattani Province

Pattani is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla.-Geography:...

, Narathiwat

Narathiwat Province

Narathiwat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Yala and Pattani. To the south it borders the Malaysian state of Kelantan. The southern railway line ends in this province that is one of the nation’s five provinces that borders Malaysia. The name of this...

, and Yala

Yala Province

Yala is the southernmost province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat. Yala is the only land-locked province in the south of Thailand...

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 term for the House is 4 years not fixed. The last election for the House occurred in 2007.

The electoral system was changed on 11 February 2011, with an increase to 500 seats in the House, of which 375 will come from constituencies and 125 from party lists.
Furthermore the Division of the party list into Area lists was abolished.

Further reading: Thai general election, 2011

Senate

The Senate

Senate of Thailand

The Senate of the Kingdom of Thailand is the upper house of the National Assembly of Thailand, . In accordance with the 2007 Constitution of Thailand, the Senate is a non-partisan legislative chamber, composed of 150 members...

 is composed of 150 members. Of these, 76 are directly elected, while 74 members are appointed. Of the elected members, 75 come from the Provinces of Thailand

Provinces of Thailand

Thailand is divided into 76 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 77th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 76 provinces. The name of the provinces are...

, and one from the Bangkok Metropolitan Area

Bangkok Metropolitan Area

The Bangkok Metropolitan Region , also known as Greater Bangkok, is the urban conglomeration of Bangkok, Thailand, which includes the city and the 5 adjacent provinces of Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon....

. The Senate is a non-partisan chamber and therefore candidates cannot be a member of a political party. The election is based on the First Past the Post system. Terms are fixed at six years. The last election for the Senate occurred in 2008.

Further reading: Thai Senate election, 2008

Thai Senate election, 2008

Senate elections were held in Thailand on 2 March 2008 for the first time under the new constitution. Voter turnout was 56%. Results were expected on 9 March 2008....

Local Administration

There are three different levels of municipalities :

• thesaban nakhon (city): More than 50,000 citizens, population density higher than 3,000 per km²
• thesaban mueang (town): More than 10,000 citizens, population density higher than 3,000 per km² - or a provincial capital
• thesaban tambon (subdistrict municipality): More than 5,000 citizens, population density higher than 1,500 per km²

All of these elect their own district councils and Mayor. there are 36 district councils. The election follow a 4 years cycle.

Councils

Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

 is divided into 14 local district councils, while there are 57 seats in the Bangkok Metropolitan Council, (BMW). The election follow a 4 years cycle. Most recent local election was in 2006

See also: Thai local elections, 2006

Gubernatorial

The Governor of Bangkok is one of two, elected Governors in the country (Pattaya being the other). The Governor holds a four years renewable term. The election of the governor does not coincide with that of the district council or of the BMC. The most recent election for Governor of Bangkok was in 2009.

See also: Bangkok gubernatorial election, 2008

Bangkok gubernatorial election, 2008

The eighth gubernatorial election for the city of Bangkok, Thailand, was held on 5 October 2008. The election was won by the incumbent Governor Apirak Kosayothin, placing him in his second consecutive four-year term in office, winning 45.93 percent of the vote...

See also: Bangkok gubernatorial election, 2009

Bangkok gubernatorial election, 2009

The ninth gubernatorial election for the city of Bangkok, Thailand. The election was held on the 11 January 2009. The election came about after the resignation of Apirak Kosayothin on the 13 November 2008, the incumbent who was only just re-elected a little more than a month...

Referendums

There has only been one referendum

Referendum

A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

 and that was for the 2007 Constitution of Thailand

2007 Constitution of Thailand

A Permanent Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand was drafted by a committee established by the military junta that abrogated the previous 1997 Constitution. On August 19, 2007, a referendum was held in which 59.3% of the voters voted in favor of the constitution...

.

Further reading: Thai constitutional referendum, 2007

Thai constitutional referendum, 2007

A referendum on the new constitution was held in Thailand on 19 August 2007. Had the draft been rejected, the military government would have had the freedom to choose any previous constitution to adapt and promulgate instead...

Issues

There has been many issues especially in recent years concerning elections in Thailand. Accusation of vote buying

Electoral fraud

Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...

 and blackmail has been most cited. Most accusations leveled concerns 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 tempering.

Other issues concern the powers of the Election Commission

Election Commission (Thailand)

The Election Commission of the Kingdom of Thailand is an independent government agency and the sole Electoral Commission of Thailand tasked with overseeing Senate, House, local and district elections throughout the Kingdom of Thailand. Established by the Constitution, the Election Commission has...

, 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

Voter turnout

Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 during elections is not much of a problem in Thailand as voting is compulsory and is one of the responsibilities described in the Constitution

Constitution

A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

 a citizen must exercise. Turnout is however much higher during general elections (85% in 2007) than they are for Senate (56% in 2008) or local elections (54% for Bangkok Governor in 2008).

External links

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Thailand Electoral Commission
• Thailand at the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening
  Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening
  The Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening is a cooperative agreement supervised by the United States Agency for International Development Office of Democracy and Governance made in 1995...
  
  (CEPPS)