BANGKOK, Dec 15: Thailand's next general election will take place on February 8, the election commission said Monday, and parties must nominate their candidates for prime minister before the end of this year.
"Today the Election Commission has drafted election details and proposed to the Commissioner who agreed that Sunday, February 8, 2026 will be the election day," the commission said in a statement.
Advance voting will take place on February 1.
Prime Minister AnutinCharnvirakul, of the conservative Bhumjaithai party, assumed office in September after his predecessor was removed over an ethics violation.
He dissolved parliament on Friday, paving the way for the national poll -- which under Thai law must be held between 45 to 60 days after the dissolution.
Thais will vote to elect 500 lawmakers, with 400 constituency seats and 100 allocated on a party-list basis, and each party can submit up to three prime ministerial candidates.
The move comes as a conflict stemming from a decades-long border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia reignited this month, with ongoing military clashes killing at least 31 people and displacing around 800,000.
Anutin, a cannabis-championing conservative, took power with coalition backing conditional on dissolving parliament, becoming the kingdom's third leader in two years.
Official poll results will be announced by April 9, the election commission said, after which the new parliament must convene within 15 days to elect speakers and then vote in a prime minister.
Thailand's third prime minister since August 2023, Anutin had won the support of the People's Party for his premiership bid in September on condition that he started the process to amend the constitution and then dissolved the house by the end of January.
A seasoned dealmaker, Anutin, 59, stands to gain from a wave of nationalism sweeping through Thailand as its military fights Cambodia in the name of defending Thai sovereignty.
However, opinion polls consistently show the People's Party is Thailand's most popular and is likely to be a force to be reckoned with. Its previous incarnation, known as the Move Forward Party, won the last election in 2023. "AGENCIES
