bicameral National Assembly or Rathasapha consisted of the Senate or Wuthisapha (150 seats; 76 members elected by popular vote representing 76 provinces, 74 appointed by judges and independent government bodies; members serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon (480 seats; 400 members elected from 157 multi-seat constituencies and 80 elected on proportional party-list basis of 10 per eight zones or groupings of provinces; members serve four-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held on 2 March 2008 (next to be held in March 2014); House of Representatives - last election held on 23 December 2007 (next to be held by December 2011)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA; House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PPP 233, DP 164, TNP 34, Motherland 24, Middle Way 11, Unity 9, Royalist People's 5; following the PPP's dissolution in December 2008, most of the party's seats were assumed by its successor, the Phuea Thai Party
note: 74 senators were appointed on 19 February 2008 by a seven-member committee headed by the chief of the Constitutional Court; 76 senators were elected on 2 March 2008; elections to the Senate are non-partisan; registered political party members are disqualified from being senators
Judicial branch:
Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Justice, and Supreme Administrative Court; all judges are appointed by the king; the king's appointments to the Constitutional Courtare made upon the advice of the Senate; the nine Constitutional Court judges are drawn from the Supreme Court of Justice and Supreme Administrative Court as well as from among substantive experts in law and social sciences outside the judiciary
Political parties and leaders:
Chat Thai Phattana Party or CP (Thai Nation Development Party)
[CHUMPON Silpa-archa]; Democrat Party or DP (Prachathipat Party)
[ABHISIT Wetchachiwa, also spelled ABHISIT Vejjajiva]; Motherland
Party (Phuea Phaendin Party) [CHANCHAI Chairungrueng]; Phuea Thai
Party (For Thais Party) or PTP [YONGYUTH Wichaidit]; Phumjai
(Bhumjai) Thai Party or PJT (Thai Pride) [CHAWARAT Chanvirakun];
Royalist People's Party (Pracharaj) [SANOH Thienthong]; Ruam Jai
Thai Party (Thai Unity Party) [WANNARAT Channukun]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
People's Alliance for Democracy or PAD; United Front for Democracy
Against Dictatorship or UDD