| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Rathasapha / National Assembly |
| Structure of parliament |
Bicameral |
| Chamber name (generic / translated) |
Wuthisapha / Senate |
| Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) |
Saphaphuthan Ratsadon / House of Representatives
|
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
2 March 2008 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for the 76 directly elected seats of the 150-seat Senate. They were the first senatorial elections since the September 2006 coup. |
On 2 March 2008
four days after former prime minister Shinawatra Thaksin returned to Thailand from a 17-month exile
elections were held to fill 76 directly elected seats in the new 150-member Senate. Elections to the House of Representatives had taken place in December 2007. Those elections had been won by the People's Power Party (PPP)
a new party formed by supporters of Mr. Thaksin. It formed a six-party coalition controlling 315 of the 480 seats in the House. The newly elected House held its first session in January 2008 and elected PPP leader Samak Sundaravej as prime minister.
The last Senate elections (for 200 directly elected members) were held in April 2006
but the resulting Senate had actually never convened because of events that led to the dissolution of the House of Representatives in September 2006. The 1997 Constitution prohibited the Senate from meeting in the absence of a House of Representatives.
The new Constitution adopted in August 2007 reduced the statutory number of Senate members from 200 to 150
of whom 76 are directly elected (one from each of the 76 provinces). National and provincial committees comprising bureaucrats and judicial officials select the rest of the members.
The election of the 76 directly elected members was preceded by the selection of the 74 appointed senators which started on 2 January. On 19 February
the Election Commission announced the results of this selection process. The selected members include 14 retired soldiers or police generals and eight members of the outgoing interim legislature the National Legislative Assembly. The remainder represent various professions such as the media
health care
business and agriculture. Prime Minister Sundaravej criticized the Senate selection process as undemocratic and pledged to amend the Constitution to restore a fully elected Senate.
Although the new Senate is a non-partisan body
many candidates for the 76 directly elected seats were reportedly backed by political parties. The voting took place in relative peace
except for a bomb blast near a polling station in the southern part of the country in which three soldiers were injured. Although voting is compulsory in Thailand
only 55.62 per cent of the 44.9 million eligible voters went to the polls. Outgoing Outgoing National Legislative Assembly Speaker Meechai Ruchuphan attributed the low turnout to the failure to publicize the vote by the Election Commission and the candidates and to voter apathy for a ballot held just three months after the House elections. Twelve women were appointed and twelve were elected
bringing the total number of women to 24.
On 14 March
the new Senate held its first session
officially establishing the Thai National Assembly. It elected Mr. Prasobsook Boondech as its new President.
In the meantime
the Election Commission announced that it had received 34 complaints of electoral fraud
mostly related to alleged vote buying. In October
it asked the Supreme Court to annul the election of one senator for vote buying. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 2 March 2008 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
44'911'254
24'981'233 (55.62%)
914'475
24'066'758 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
126
24
16.00%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
Over 70 years
|
34
47
68
1
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Pensioner |
48 |
| Finance
management or business |
48 |
| Civil service and local authority administration |
17 |
| Education profession |
11 |
| Other |
6 |
| Legal profession |
6 |
| Political party official |
5 |
| Social worker |
3 |
| Journalism
broadcasting
media |
3 |
| Agriculture/farming |
2 |
| Architect
surveyor
engineer |
1 |
|
| Comments |
Source: Thai IPU Group
Note on distribution of seats according to sex:
Twelve women were elected and twelve others were appointed (01.04.2008
04.07.2008
23.02.2009). |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
