The House of Representatives has been officially dissolved after a Royal Decree for Parliament Dissolution was gazetted on Friday morning (12 December).  General elections are now likely to be staged in February 2026, earlier than initially planned.

In the Decree, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul noted the many challenges faced by his minority government and stated that the appropriate solution was a parliamentary dissolution and an election.

The dissolution came after a chaotic parliamentary session on Thursday night (11 December), in which MPs and senators rejected a proposal that future constitutional amendments be approved by a simple majority in a joint sitting, opting instead to require support from at least one-third of all senators.

Parliament voted 312 to 290 to reject the ad hoc committee’s proposal to amend Section 256/28 so that changes could be approved by a simple majority in a joint sitting. Instead, it reverted to an earlier stipulation that amendments be supported by at least one-third of all senators to pass.

Several Bhumjaithai MPs joined the vote to reject the committee’s proposal, while People’s Party MPs were in favour of limiting the Senate’s power, as proposed by the ad hoc committee.

In a statement issued near midnight, the People’s Party noted that Bhumjaithai representatives were on the committee drafting the constitutional amendment bill, but that its MPs nonetheless voted against their plan to have amendments passed by a simple majority without a Senate vote requirement. As a result, the People's Party moved to prepare a no-confidence motion against Anutin's government.

Later that evening, the PM posted on Facebook that he was “returning power to the people,” signalling that he was submitting a request for House dissolution and calling for new elections earlier than promised.

After former PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed from office, due to a court ruling that she had violated ethical standards during a phone call with former Cambodian PM Hun Sen, Anutin received People’s Party backing to form an interim government on the condition that he dissolve parliament within four months.  Taking office in September, he said that he would dissolve the House by the end of January and hold general elections in March or April 2026.

There has been widespread speculation that Anutin would call for House dissolution before the government faced a no-confidence debate, however. He told the media in November that he would dissolve the House if the government were subjected to such a debate, noting that the ruling Bhumjaithai Party led a minority government and would certainly lose in a censure debate.  He also said that if the opposition could not wait until the promised date of 31 January 2026, he would dissolve the House on 12 December.

General elections must now take with 45 to 60 days of 11 December, the date of the dissolution on the royal decree. The Election Commission must in turn announce an election date within five days. It is expected that the elections will be held by February 2026.

The current Constitution stipulates that if the House is dissolved, any draft bills that have yet to be approved by parliament and King will lapse. According to iLaw, this includes at least 88 draft bills currently under parliamentary consideration. As of 29 October, at least 72 draft bills were pending in the House of Representatives, including the Clean Air Act and the Amnesty Bill.  Significantly, at least 18 draft constitutional amendments under consideration in the joint session will also lapse. Following the election, the new Cabinet may request parliament to reconsider any lapsed draft bills within 60 days from the date of the first parliamentary meeting.

On 12 December, Paradon Prissanananthakul, PM office minister, told the media that the Bhumjaithai Party had not betrayed the People’s Party, noting that the Memorandum of Agreement between the two parties did not specify any conditions other than pushing forward with constitutional amendments.

He stated that if the party agreed with the ad hoc committee’s majority vote plan, it would not have received support from the senate and constitutional amendment would face a stumbling block. He stressed that his party remained committed to constitutional amendment and noted that the caretaker government would continue to function as normal.

In the face of renewed fighting on the Thailand and Cambodia border, the PM also told the media that the House dissolution would not affect the current situation.