Education Deputy Minister Udom Kachintorn has guaranteed that 450,000 eligible student voters affected by the potential clash of dates between the general election, the General Aptitude Test (GAT), and the Professional and Academic Aptitude Test (PAT) will be able to cast their ballots.

Recently, the Council of University Presidents of Thailand announced that the GAT and PAT tests would be held between Feb 23-26, while the election is expected to take place on Feb 24, though no official date has been declared yet.

Those who sit the GAT and PAT tests, which determine university enrolment, must be studying Mathayom 6 or higher, and most of them will already be 18 and have the right to vote in the general election.

Dr Udom said although there is still no confirmation of the election date, the Education Ministry is already aware of the problem and is coming up with solutions to ensure that young voters can cast their ballots without having to worry about any clash with their exams.

"Several million people will have a chance to cast ballots for the first time in the upcoming election and 450,000 students would be affected if the poll and the exams are to be held on the same day.

"It's a huge number and their rights must be respected. We'll make sure that all of them will be able to cast their votes," he said.

Dr Udom said advance voting could be one of the solutions and if needed, a change of exam dates can still be made.

"We still have a little room to adjust the exam dates, but we need to wait for the government to declare the election date first, so we can decide which solution is going to be picked since there is no clarity on that yet," he said.