The Secretary-General of the Election Commission explained the legal provisions for electoral districting, stating that if parliament dissolves early in 2026, population figures from the end of 2025 must be used for calculations. The delimitation must be completed within five days from the announcement of the royal decree calling for elections to allow parties to allocate candidates to different constituencies.
On 11 Dec 2025 GMT+7 at the Election Commission office, Sa-ngaeng Bunmee, Secretary-General of the EC, posted on Facebook explaining that electoral districting and population numbers are linked. If parliament dissolves late in one year but elections are held early the next year, the population data from the last announced year is used. According to Section 12, once a royal decree calling for elections is announced, the EC must declare the number of constituencies per province, registration dates, and election dates within five days. Section 26 states that delimitation must use the total population as recorded in the latest population registry announced in the year before the election year.
Sa-ngaeng said that normally, the population data used for calculations corresponds to the year of the royal decree announcement if elections occur within the same year. This is usually clear in practice, using the population figures from the year before the election. However, complications may arise if parliament dissolves early in the year, which could coincide with the population data announcement at year-end. Traditionally, the Ministry of Interior announces population data around mid-January each year. The EC must complete the calculation and delimitation within five days of the royal decree announcement to provide constituencies for candidates and parties to select where to run. If such a situation occurs, the office has prepared accordingly.
Sa-ngaeng also addressed a special case where a royal decree is announced in one year but the election date is set for the following year. According to the law, the population data used must be from the year before the royal decree announcement, not the year before the election date, as stipulated in Section 12 in conjunction with Section 16, which defines the election year as the year of the decree, not the election day year.