House of Representatives (Thailand)

House of Representatives

สภาผู้แทนราษฎร

*Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon*
House of Representatives ; สภาผู้แทนราษฎร; Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon
National Assembly of Thailand
Leadership
Speaker	Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, Prachachat ; since 5 July 2023
First Deputy Speaker	Padipat Suntiphada, Fair Party ; since 5 July 2023
Second Deputy Speaker	Pichet Chuamuangphan, Pheu Thai ; since 5 July 2023
Prime Minister	Srettha Thavisin, Pheu Thai ; since 22 August 2023
Government Chief Whip	Wisut Chaiyarun, Pheu Thai ; since 22 February 2024
Leader of the Opposition	Chaithawat Tulathon, Move Forward ; since 17 December 2023
Opposition Chief Whip	Pakornwut Udompipatskul, Move Forward ; since 26 December 2023
Structure
Seats	500
Political groups	Government (315) Pheu Thai (141); Bhumjaithai (71); Palang Pracharat (40); United Thai Nation (36); Chart Thai Pattana (10); Prachachart (9); Pheu Thai Ruam Palang (2); Chart Pattana Kla (3); Thai Liberal (1); New Social Power (1); Thai Counties (1); Opposition (185) Move Forward (148); Democrat (25); Thai Sang Thai (6); Fair Party (2); New Democracy (1); New Party (1); Thai Teachers for People (1); Thai Progress (1);
Length of term	Up to 4 years
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting:; First-past-the-post voting (400 seats); Party-list proportional representation (100 seats)
Last election	14 May 2023
Next election	By 27 June 2027
Meeting place
	Phra Suriyan Chamber; Sappaya-Sapasathan; Dusit District; Bangkok, Thailand
Website
	www.parliament.go.th
Rules
	Parliament Rules

The House of Representatives (

party lists parallel voting

.

The House of Representatives was temporarily abolished as a result of the

unicameral National Legislative Assembly, a body of 250 members, selected by the National Council for Peace and Order. After the 2017 Constitution was promulgated in April 2017, the House of Representatives was reestablished.^[1]

The Cabinet, no less than 20 members of parliament, or 10,000 eligible voters through a petition may introduce a bill. However, if it is a money bill (a bill that has provisions concerning taxes, budgetary affairs or currency), it may be introduced only with the endorsement of the Prime Minister.

Where a bill's status as a money bill may be in question, a session between the speaker and all house committee chairs maybe convened to consider the status of the bill. The decision is made by a simple majority vote. If the vote is tied, the speaker must cast a tie-breaking vote.

When the process of consideration ends in the House and the bill is agreed to, the bill is sent to the senate for further deliberations; of which the process must be done within 60 days. The deadline for money bills is 30 days. If the senate is not able to deliberate within the time limit, the bill is considered to be agreed to by the senate.

If the bill is agreed to by the whole of the National Assembly, the prime minister must wait 5 days in order to give people the opportunity to challenge the bill's constitutionality. After which, the prime minister has 20 days to present the bill to the monarch for royal assent.

Any emergency act passed by the cabinet must be sent to the house for consideration without delay to be examined. If the house approves of the emergency act, it becomes an ordinary act. If not, the emergency act ceases to have effect after the decision has been published in the

government gazette

for one day.

Budget consideration

The 2017 Thai Constitution stipulates that the budget must be written in the form of an act, and in the introduction of a budget bill the government must show sources of income and estimates of further income, standards and measures of outcome and relevance to the 20 Year National Strategy and other national development plans. The budget must also adhere to guidelines outlined in the State Fiscal and Financial Disciplines Act.

The process of considering the budget is almost the same as considering a bill, although the deliberation deadline is extended to 105 days, and the senate is not able to amend the budget and must vote on it within 20 days.

Scrutiny of the government

Questioning a minister

A member of parliament may submit a question to a minister both in writing and orally. Questions to a minister may be asked without the question being submitted in advance. A minister may refuse to answer the question if the answer would risk national security or if they consider it not to be in the national interest.

Ministers assigning civil servants or other people to answer in their place is commonplace practice rather than the exception.

Motion of no confidence

No less than one fifth of all the members of parliament may introduce a motion to debate about a vote of no confidence in individual ministers or the entire cabinet. A simple majority is required for the motion to pass, and subsequently for the minister or the entire cabinet to cease.

Creation of committees

Committees may be set up by the house to carry out affairs or investigate matters, or to study matters and report to the house according to a set time frame. A minister may be held accountable to the committee, and it is within their duty to aid the committee in the course of an investigation or to find facts by ordering civil servants within their ministry for them to testify in the committee or to comply with information requests.

Considering prime ministerial candidates

In order for a candidate to stand, they must receive at least one tenth of the house's vote and must be named in the party list.

History

The

Khana Ratsadon (the "People's Party"), overthrew the absolute monarchy and replaced it with a system of constitutional monarchy. When King Prajadhipok signed the temporary constitution of 1932, he established the first legislative assembly in Thailand, It was an entirely royally-appointed chamber. The first session of the People's Assembly was held on June 28, 1932, in the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall

. From then on, the House existed in various forms until it was abolished in 2014:

See more at:

Constitutions of Thailand

1946 – The 1946 constitution established a fully elected House of Representatives.

1949 – On June 5, 1949, Orapin Chaiyakan became the first woman to be elected to hold a post in the National Assembly of Thailand (specifically, the House of Representatives).^[2]^[3]
1952 – Establishment of the
unicameral
National Assembly with 123 members.
1959 – The House was banned by
Sarit Dhanarajata
.
1968 – The House was re-established with 219 members.
1972 – The House was banned by Thanom Kittikachorn.
1974 – Establishment of the House of Representatives.
1976 – Establishment of a unicameral National Assembly with 360 royally-appointed members.
1978 – Return of an elected House with 301 members.
1991 – Establishment of a unicameral National Assembly with 292 appointed members.
1997 – Establishment of a 500-member House of Representatives, 400 directly elected with 100 elected through proportional representation.
2006 – Following the
coup
, an interim charter was signed establishing a 250-member National Legislative Assembly.
2007 – Return to 500-member House with 375 members elected through single constituency elections and 125 appointed through party-list proportional representation, established, by referendum under the
2007 Constitution of Thailand
.
2014 – Abolished as a result of the 2014 Thai coup d'état.
2017 – Re-established following the promulgation of the 2017 constitution.

Qualification

The qualifications to be a

electoral register for at least five years directly before the election, and must also had a house or have been in public service in the province for five years. The candidate must also had been a member of an educational institution in that province for at least five consecutive years. Politically, a candidate had to be a member of one political party for a period of at least ninety days before election day, except in cases of dissolution where thirty days was the minimum period. This was done to discourage party switching before the election. For party list

candidates, they must also had to meet the same qualifications except for the provincial restrictions. They were instead divided in lists based on provincial groups.

Those specifically barred from being candidates were those: addicted to drugs, declared

independent agencies

.

Elections

Before its abolition, the House of Representatives had 500 members. 375 members were directly elected in single constituency elections by first-past-the-post voting. The 375 constituencies were divided by population according to the census and tambons. The other 125 members were voted based on the Mixed Member Majoritarian system (MMM). In Thai general elections, voters had two votes: one to select the member of parliament for their constituencies and the second to choose which party they prefer. Seats were assigned to parties as a result through the d'Hondt method.

In accordance with the

royal decree. Elections were held under universal suffrage; every voter had to be a citizen of Thailand, if not by birth then by being a citizen for 5 years. The voter had to be over 18 years old before the year the election was held. Voting in elections were also mandatory as missing an election would result in the loss of the right to be involved in political activities. Those barred from voting in House elections were members of the clergy

, those suspended from the privilege for various reasons, detainees under legal or court orders and being of unsound mind or of mental infirmity.

Term and dissolution

The term of the House of Representatives was exactly four years from the previous

election day. Upon the expiration of the House, the King would issue a decree calling for a general election

of the House, in which the date of the election had to be announced. This had to be done within forty days of the expiration. The date of the election had to be the same for the entire Kingdom.

The King held the royal prerogative to dissolve the House before its expiration. When this happened a royal decree was issued where the election date was announced; this had to be done in no less than forty days and not more than sixty days from the date of the dissolution. The reasons and circumstances of a dissolution could be made only once.

Membership

Members of the House of Representatives were generally called Members of Parliament or MPs (

parliamentary party

through a 3/4 majority vote). If the vacancy was of a constituency member then an election had to be held within forty days of the vacancy, unless it was less than 180 days of the present term of the House, then the vacancy could remain.

In the case where the vacancy was made by a proportional representative member, the vacancy would be filled by the Speaker of the House of Representatives by submitting the name of the next candidate in the

Royal Gazette

. This had to be done within seven days. If no name was found then the vacancy could remain unfilled. Members of the House who had filled a vacancy under either of these procedures could only remain in the House for the remainder of its present term.

Leadership

Presiding officers

The executive committee of House of Representatives consisted of one

non-partisan

basis.

Leader of the Governing Coalition

The Constitution stipulated that the Prime Minister and the Ministers had to be former members of the House of Representatives. After the first session, the House had to vote in a resolution to elect a Prime Minister, after which the King would formally approve him within thirty days. The Prime Minister-elect was always the leader of the largest party in the House. However, under the electoral system, the House resulted in a hung parliament. After the 2007 election, six parties formed a governing coalition, electing Samak Sundaravej of the largest party, People's Power Party (PPP), the Prime Minister.

On August 5, 2011, the House elected Yingluck Shinawatra as Prime Minister against Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party, to a vote of 265 for and 159 against.

Leader of the Opposition

After the appointment of the Cabinet, the King appointed the official Leader of the Opposition of Thailand. The Leader of the Opposition had to be the leader of the largest party with no members holding any ministerial positions. His party had to be larger than one fifth of the total number of the House. If no Party met this qualification then the Leader with most votes from parties with no ministerial positions would then be appointed. The Royal appointment had to be countersigned by the President of the National Assembly. The Leader of the Opposition led the Shadow Cabinet of Thailand.

References

Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2007
Background Note: Thailand:
U.S. State Department public domain document

^ Kendall, Dave (2019-01-06). "Explainer: New rules for the House of Representatives". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
^ Sopchokchai, Orapin. Female Members of Parliament, Women's Political Participation at the National Level Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Women's Political Participation in Thailand, TDRI Quarterly Review, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 1998, pp. 11–20
^ Iwanaga, Kazuki. Women in Politics in Thailand Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Working Paper No. 14, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden, 2005

External links

[BP-20190106-1] Kendall, Dave (2019-01-06). "Explainer: New rules for the House of Representatives". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2019-01-28.

[TDRI-2] Sopchokchai, Orapin. Female Members of Parliament, Women's Political Participation at the National Level Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine, Women's Political Participation in Thailand, TDRI Quarterly Review, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 1998, pp. 11–20

[Iwanaga-3] Iwanaga, Kazuki. Women in Politics in Thailand Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Working Paper No. 14, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden, 2005

[1]

v t e Lower houses of national legislatures
Federal	Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Canada Ethiopia India Malaysia Mexico Nepal Nigeria Pakistan Russia Somalia South Sudan Sudan Switzerland United States
Unitary	Algeria Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belarus Belize Bhutan Bolivia Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Central African Republic Chile Colombia Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Czech Republic Dominican Republic Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eswatini France Gabon Grenada Haiti Indonesia Ireland Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Morocco Myanmar Namibia Netherlands Oman Palau Paraguay Philippines Poland Romania Rwanda Saint Lucia Slovenia South Africa Spain Tajikistan Thailand Trinidad and Tobago United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan Yemen Zimbabwe
Dependent and other territories	American Samoa Bermuda Isle of Man Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico
Non-UN states	Somaliland
Defunct	Cuba Fiji Guyana Hungary Kingdom of Ireland Irish Free State South Korea Nicaragua Northern Ireland Peru Portugal (Kingdom) Portugal (Republic) Sweden Venezuela
Related	Bicameralism Unicameralism Tricameralism Multicameralism List of abolished lower houses List of legislatures by country
National upper houses National bicameral legislatures National unicameral legislatures