At stake in this election:

• 400 seats in the House of Representatives (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: King BHUMIBOL Adulyadej
• Head of Government: Prime Minister SURAYUD Chulanont **
• Assembly: Thailand has a bicameral Bicameral National Assembly consisting of the Senate (Wuthisapha) with 150 seats and the House of Representatives (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon) with 400 seats.

** Prime Minister THAKSIN Chinnawat was overthrown on 19 September 2006 in a coup led by General SONTHI Boonyaratglin.

Description of electoral system:

• The King is the hereditary head of state.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament to serve a 4-year term.
• In the Senate (Wuthisapha), 74 members are selected and 76 members are elected by single non-transferable vote (SNTV). In the House of Representatives (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon), 400 members are elected in multi-member constituencies and 80 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Thai Nation Party (TNP) / Chat Thai Party*
  • Leader: Banharn SILPA-ARCHA
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 34
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 25
• Party: Democrat Party (DP) / Prachathipat Party
  • Leader: ABHISIT Vejjajiva
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 164
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 97
• Party: People's Power Party (PPP) / Palang Prachachon Party
  • Leader: Samak SUNDARAVEJ
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 233
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: For the Motherland Party / Puea Pandin Party (PP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 24
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: Thai's United National Development Party (RC) / Ruam Jai Thai Chart Pattana Party
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 9
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: Neutral Democratic Party / Matchimathipataya Party (MCM)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 11
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0
• Party: Royalist People's Party / Pracharaj Party (PRP)
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this House of Representatives election: 5
  • Seats won in last House of Representatives election: 0

* These results are from the last valid parliamentary elections that were held on February 5, 2005. The Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) won 376 seats in the 2005 election, but the party was dissolved by Constitutional Tribunal on May 30, 2007.