Rulings by the Constitutional Court Following the removal of Prime Minister
Paetongtarn Shinawatra by the
Constitutional Court on 29 August 2025, the conservative
Bhumjaithai Party entered into negotiations with the progressive
People's Party to secure their support to back Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister. In an agreement between the two parties, the People's Party agreed to support Anutin on the terms that Anutin dissolve the House within four months, Bhumjaithai must maintain a minority coalition, and must also initiate the process of amending the 2017 constitution and hold a referendum if required. The referendum on whether to amend the constitution would then lead to the establishment of an elected constitution drafting assembly and must be held no later than the general election. If the Constitutional Court did not find a referendum necessary, an elected drafting assembly would be established. On 10 September, the Constitutional Court voted 6-1 that three referendums are required to begin the process of drafting a new constitution, and members of the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) cannot be directly elected. The ruling followed a petition by
Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, speaker of the
House of Representatives, under Section 210 (1)(2). In a 5–2 vote, the court found that the House had the authority to begin the charter rewrite process but this must be preceded by a referendum asking voters if they approve of a rewrite. In the three referendums required by the court, the first should ask whether a new constitution should be drafted, the second will seek public opinion on the principles and methods of the rewrite, whilst the third will ask if voters approve of the new constitution. The first and second referendums may be combined.
Constitutional Amendment bill ,
Sukhothai province on 8 February 2026 Following the Court's ruling, the People's Party,
Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai submitted their own separate draft constitutional amendment bills to
Parliament to amend Article 256 of Chapter 15 and to add an extra chapter to allow for a new constitution to be drafted. Parliament met on October 14 and 15 to discuss the three proposals. The People's Party's version proposed that a CDA of 35 members selected by Parliament from a list of 70 people elected by voters be formed along an advisory council of 100 elected members with the goal of gathering public opinion to advise the CDA. Bhumjaithai's version proposes that the CDA should be made of 99 members made up of 77 selected by Parliament from a list so each province is represented by one member and 22 experts in law, political science, and other relevant fields. Members of the drafting committee would then be selected by the CDA. It also reduces the number of Senate votes needed to pass amendments from a third to a fifth of senators. The Bhumjaithai and Pheu Thai bills prohibit changes to the political system and state structure described in Chapters 1 and 2, whilst the People's Party contains elements from those two chapters. The committee held its first meeting on October 19 and elected Nutthawut Buaprathum, party-list MP for People's Party, as chairman. The three deputy chairmen were Chawengsak Rengpaiboon, MP for Bhumjaithai; Tawee Sodsong, MP for Prachachart, and Senator Premsak Piayura. The panel was empowered to recommend changes to the draft bills to ensure they met the requirements stated by the Constitutional Court. By the end of November, the committee finished its review of the bill. At the same time, the cabinet approved a special parliamentary session for December 10 and 11 for a second reading on the bill. On December 10, Parliament voted to approve establishing a 35 member CDA and a 35 member public participation committee. Parliament also voted 328 to 266 to use the "20 pick 1" formula to choose members. The formula stipulates that a group of 20 MPs and Senators each nominates one member for the CDA. Pheu Thai were the main opponents of the formula. Parliament later voted 494 to 1 to approve the first referendum question on whether there should be a new constitution and the question was sent to the Cabinet. On the amendment to Article 256/28, Parliament voted to reject the committee's proposal that future amendments on the constitution should be approved by a simple majority of a joint-sitting to preserve the Senate's one-third veto power. The article was rejected by several MPs from Bhumjaithai and the governing coalition. The People's Party then began the process to call a vote of no confidence. Before a vote could be called, Anutin dissolved the House of Representatives and began the process for holding a general election in 2026 on December 12. On December 19, the cabinet approved the referendum question and forwarded it to the Electoral Commission. == Positions ==