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All 500 seats in the House of Representatives 251 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 64.77% | |||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Phumtham Wechayachai (PTP)
Suriya Juangroongruangkit (PTP) |
Kriangkrai Srirak
Pichet Chuamuangphan (PTP) Vacant
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President: Anocha Chevitsophon President: Vorapot Visrutpich President: Nakarin Mektrairat |
 Thailand portal |
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General elections were held in Thailand in April 2006. Elections for the lower house of the Thai National Assembly, the House of Representatives, were held on 2 April 2006 and elections for the upper house, the Senate, were held on 19 April 2006. The Constitutional Court later invalidated the House of Representatives election results and ordered a new round of voting.
The ruling Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a majority seats in the House of Representatives, partly as a result of the decision by the major opposition parties to boycott the elections. Nearly complete results showed that TRT won 61% of the valid vote and about 460 of the 500 seats. Despite this, Thaksin announced his resignation two days after the election.
Although TRT easily won the election in terms of both votes and seats, the results were seen by Thaksin's opponents and media critics as a rejection of his call for an overwhelming mandate. In parts of Bangkok and in southern Thailand, most TRT candidates were elected on minority votes after the majority of voters used the "abstain" option on their ballot papers. In a number of southern seats TRT candidates failed to poll the required 20% of registered voters, rendering these southern seats invalid and resulting in party dissolution charges against Thai Rak Thai and Democrat Parties. TRT won all the seats in the Northern and North-Eastern (Isan) regions, and also in the Central region apart from Bangkok.
Due to the election result, King Bhumibol Adulyadej took the unprecedented step of calling the elections undemocratic, and soon later the election was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court. New elections were scheduled for October 2006, but were canceled when the military overthrew the government.