When Thai voters go to the polls on 8 February, they will receive three ballots: two for the general election, and one for a referendum which will ask them whether they want a new constitution. It will be a watershed moment for Thai politics: a vote in favour means opening the door to a new constitution, while a vote against would make it likely that future amendments become impossible. Here is all you need to know about the 8 February 2026 referendum.

With less than a month to go, Thailand is gearing up for a new government amid mounting challenges. Parties are ramping up their election campaigns to capture the voters’ mandate, particularly given the vast number of undecided voters this time. However, the question remains: will the upcoming election bring about significant reform?

As Thailand's road to a new Constitution comes to another turning point, a group of activists is marching 55 kilometres from Ayutthaya to Bangkok to demand a new Constitution.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Phumtham Wechayachai announced yesterday (25 December) that the Cabinet’s Constitutional Amendment Committee will propose 3 referendums on constitutional amendments and that the first will ask whether people want to amend the Constitution without amending chapters relating to the monarchy.

The parliament has voted against a Move Forward Party (MFP) proposal to hold a referendum on whether a Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) should be elected to draft a new constitution.

The campaign to petition for a constitutional amendment referendum faces potential delay as the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) told the the People’s Constitution Drafting Group, just hours after the petition gained the required number of signatures, that online forms will not be accepted and all 50,000 must be collected on paper.

<p>The Constitutional Court has accepted a petition asking it to rule whether Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha&rsquo;s time in office is up due to the 8-year maximum term limit for a Prime Minister imposed by the 2017 Constitution, and suspended him from office until a ruling is made.</p>

<p>The Constitution Advocacy Alliance (CALL), a civil society network campaigning for constitutional amendments, has condemned the constitutional amendment committee for barring them from conducting a Facebook live recording of their meetings and having security officers take them away.</p>

<p>The public joined the Committee Campaigning for a People&rsquo;s Constitution (CCPC) on Wednesday 24 June in remembering the 1932 People&rsquo;s Party&rsquo;s declaration and demanding amendments to the 2017 constitution. Meanwhile, other commemorations faced difficulties from the authorities.</p>

<p>On Friday morning (13 March), a group of civil society organizations and members of the public, led by the Committee Campaigning for a People&rsquo;s Constitution (CCPC), iLaw, and the People Go Network Forum, marched to parliament to submit a petition demanding an amendment to the 2017 Constitution.</p>

<p>&quot;Talk for Freedom,&quot; a new documentary by iLaw and Prachatai, tells the story of Mafang and Pai Dao Din, two of the participants in the Talk for Freedom public forum on the draft of the 2017 constitution in&nbsp;Khon Kaen.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Wednesday (19 February), the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled that Section 301 of the Thai Criminal Code which criminalizes abortion, violates the current Constitution and must be amended.&nbsp;</p>