The dissolution of the House of Representatives has sparked concerns about constitutional amendment.  As facilitating legislation is still under parliamentary consideration, the required referendums may not be held in time to coincide with the general elections.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul submitted a royal decree to dissolve the House on Thursday (11 December), and the decree was gazetted on Friday morning (12 December). General elections are now likely to be staged in February 2026, earlier than initially planned. However, draft legislation on the constitutional amendment is still pending in parliament.

In the decree published on Friday, the PM 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.

As a result, the People's Party moved to prepare a no-confidence motion against Anutin's government. In response to the People’s Party’s move, Anutin revealed on Facebook that he submitted a request to dissolve the House.

After reports of potential dissolution reached Parliament, People's Party MP Pakornwut Udompipatsakul requested that the House postpone the debate on the constitutional amendment bill and instead discuss motions on referendum questions before the House is dissolved.

People's Party MP Parit Wacharasindhu proposed that five questions be forwarded to the Cabinet, using question proposed by Pheu Thai MP Chusak Sirinil, as the time before the extraordinary session ends is limited. He noted that it might be the House's final vote.

Parliament voted 494 to 1 to adopt the motion, forwarding the first referendum question to the Cabinet for further action.

On Friday, Sirot Patpun, Secretary General of the House of Representatives, revealed that the Secretariat of the House will submit the motion to the government as approved by parliament.

General elections must now take place within 45 to 60 days of 11 December, the date of the dissolution on the royal decree, which means the upcoming elections would be on 8 February 2026 at the latest.

Referendums must be held 60 days after the cabinet approves referendum questions. The government was planning for the referendums and the general election to be held on the same day.

“If the election date is set for 8 February 2026 … the period from the House dissolution to that date is only 58 days. It would therefore be impossible to schedule the referendums on the same day,” said Nutchapakorn Nummueng from the Constitution Advocacy Alliance (CALL)

He expressed his view that holding the referendums alongside the general election is unlikely, as the House was dissolved before the Cabinet approved the first referendum question.

He raised an additional concern of whether a caretaker Cabinet has the authority to approve referendum questions, saying that while no law explicitly limits a caretaker Cabinet’s power to do so, it could be construed as part of executive power.

Permissible in principle, Nutchapakorn noted that it might not be practical.