Parliament Passes Election Law Amendments

Thailand's lawmakers have passed amendments to the country's electoral law during a joint session of the parliament. The changes include raising the number of constituency representatives and restoring the two-ballot voting system.

• The bill passed with 472 votes in favour, 33 votes against and 187 abstentions. The amendments are widely believed to benefit larger parties, mainly the ruling Palang Pracharath Party and the opposition Pheu Thai. Meanwhile, giving the 250 junta-appointed Senators a say in picking the Prime Minister will consolidate the military regime's grip on power.
• Thailand operated a mixed member apportionment system (MMA), whereby 350 members of the House of Representatives are elected in single-member districts and the remaining 150 are drawn from party lists. Each voter casts just one ballot for their constituency MP and these ballots are also used to calculate the distribution of party list seats.
• Following the latest changes, voters will cast two ballots each, one for a constituency representative and one for a party list. In addition, the number of MPs elected in single-member districts will be raised to 400, which will result in the redrawing of district boundaries. The number of party list MPs will be lowered to 100, effectively reducing the chance of smaller parties to win party list seats.