2023 Thai House of Representatives

The House of Representatives of Thailand of 2023 consists of 500 members elected in the 14 May 2023 general election, who, together with 250 members of the appointed Senate, form the National Assembly of Thailand. It is the second parliament to be convened in accordance with the 2017 constitution of Thailand, which followed the 2014 military coup.

Parliament was officially opened by King Maha Vajiralongkorn on July 3, 2023. The Speaker of the House will be elected the following day.

House of Representatives composition
The Move Forward Party and Pheu Thai Party jointly won a landslide victory in the 2023 election.



Speaker Election
The election for Speaker of the House of Representatives will take place on July 4, 2023, at 9.30am local time.

The speaker and two deputy speakers will be elected by a vote within the House, and appointed by the King. The Speaker is also the ex officio President of the National Assembly of Thailand. Although the Speaker is usually a member of the largest party, this is not a requirement. In fact, the previous speaker, Chuan Leekpai, was a member of the Democrat Party, despite that party not being the largest in the House at the time.

Both the Move Forward Party and the Pheu Thai Party announced that they wanted the House speakership. They were scheduled to meet on the 28th of June to resolve the disagreement, but this meeting was canceled. Move Forward has nominated Padipat Suntiphada, an MP from Phitsanulok's 1st district to be the speaker. On July 3, the day of the opening of the new parliament, the Pheu Thai Party announced that their MPs had resolved to nominate Prachachart Party leader and former speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha as an alternative speaker candidate. In response, Wan Muhamad said that he did not want the position, but that "If Pheu Thai really resolves to nominate me, I am willing to accept the nomination, but we have to listen to the opinions of Move Forward and the people. If the people agree, I am happy to work for them, although it will be the last time in my political life." The decision by Pheu Thai MPs still needed to be ratified by the party's executive committee. Move Forward later agreed to support Wan Muhamad, ending the crisis.

Move Forward then nominated Padipat Suntiphada for first deputy speaker instead, and the United Thai Nation Party nominated veteran politician Witthaya Kaewparadai, a party list MP.

The post of second deputy speaker went to Pheu Thai's Pichet Chuamuangphan, a constituency MP from Chiang Rai province.

First session
Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat was the only candidate eligible on the first ballot.

Candidates for Prime Minister must have been nominated by a political party that won at least 25 seats (5% of the total) in the House of Representatives, and be endorsed by 50 MPs (10% of the total). No party may nominate more than three candidates. If no candidate achieves the necessary votes in the first round, Parliament may consider others for the post.

Votes from a majority of members of the National Assembly (500 members of the House and 250 members of the Senate) are required to be elected. This means that 376 votes were needed. As the parties that support Pita's candidacy held only 313 seats in the House, at least 63 votes from senators (25.2% of the total) were required for him to be elected.

The first ballot was held on July 13, 2023.

Second session
On 19 July, the National Assembly convened for a second time to elect a new prime minister. That day, the Constitutional Court unanimously voted to accept a case against Pita regarding his inherited shares of the defunct iTV. They also voted 7–2 to suspend him from MP duty until it reached a ruling, though this did not preclude him from being nominated for prime minister. In the subsequent debate, the National Assembly voted against considering him for another round of voting for prime minister. His renomination was argued to have been against a parliamentary rule prohibiting a repeat motion. In the voting for his renomination, 312 voters supported, 394 rejected—most of which were senators—eight abstained and one did not vote. The decision to prohibit renominations was controversial, with critics arguing that it was unconstitutional. Many complaints were filed to the Office of the Ombudsman, which on 24 July agreed to forward the case to the Constitutional Court. This led to further prime ministerial voting being postponed by Parliament; the next vote had originally been scheduled for 27 July.

Third session
Srettha Thavisin was the only candidate eligible on the third ballot.

Votes from a majority of members of the National Assembly (500 members of the House and 250 members of the Senate) are required to be elected. This means that 376 votes will be needed. As the parties that support Srettha's candidacy hold only 314 seats in the House, at least 62 votes from senators (24.8% of the total) are required for him to be elected.

The third ballot was held on August 22, 2023.