The biggest obstacle to holding the general election in February as planned has been removed as the last two organic bills on electing MPs and selecting senators cleared the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Thursday.
Nonetheless critics are still fretting about further possible delays if the Constitutional Court elects to challenge the legality of the two bills.
The next step is to submit the two bills for royal endorsement, which can take up to 90 days.
If the one on MP elections is endorsed and published in the Royal Gazette it will not take effect for another 90 days, after which the 150-day countdown to the election can begin.
This is because the NLA voted in January to extend enforcement of the bill by three months. This effectively puts the poll off until February 2019 at the earliest.
Both bills were passed without amendment Thursday after a joint committee of the NLA, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) and the Election Commission scrutinised changes the assembly made to the legislation earlier.
The CDC and the EC had earlier pointed out that some provisions in the bills were unconstitutional. This in turn led to doubts the long-delayed general election could be organised for February as the government has promised.
The CDC had questioned the constitutionality of a clause in the bill on the election of MPs that would disqualify holders of political positions if they failed to cast a vote without good reason.
NLA member Somchai Sawangkarn, a member of the joint scrutiny committee, told the NLA the clause was aimed at ensuring holders of political positions set a good example by voting.
Mr Somchai also answered the EC's reservations about setting election campaign expenditure limits for political parties during campaigning.
He said the limits would be varied to accommodate the different numbers of candidates fielded by the various political parties.
NLA members did not dispute a ban on candidates staging entertainment activities during election campaigning, voting hours of 8am to 5pm, and the right of disabled people to have an assistant help them cast their vote.
The NLA passed the bill on the election of MPs with 211 votes in favour and seven abstentions. No one voted against it.
For the bill on the installation of senators, candidates would for the first five years fall in 10 professional and social groups and be selected with an intra-group voting system.
The candidates' groups will increase to 20 later and cross-group voting will be used.
The NLA cast 202 votes in favour of the Senate bill, with one vote against it and 13 abstentions.
Wanwichit Boonprong, a political science lecturer at Rangsit University, said circumstances forced the NLA to pass both bills so the national reform roadmap of the government was not affected.
However, some arguable elements in the bills might be put before the Constitutional Court for a ruling.
Yutthaporn Isarachai, a political scientist at Sukhothai Thammathirat University, said certain factors could delay the election further.
He said it was unclear if the selection of new candidates for election commissioners could be completed soon enough after the NLA on Feb 22 voted to reject all seven candidates chosen to serve as election regulators.
The second issue is that if a petition is submitted asking the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the two bills, there is no knowing how long the court will deliberate the matter.
If it rules against the two bills, the election will likely be delayed again, Mr Yutthaporn said.
Election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said the EC had no reservations about the bill on the election of MPs and would not seek a Constitutional Court ruling on the bill.
But if others want to challenge the bill, he believed the court would consider the matter within a month.
If the court finds any provisions unconstitutional, the NLA must make changes to comply with its ruling, Mr Somchai said. He said this would not affect the election roadmap because the enforcement of the bill on the election of MPs has been extended.
NLA member Gen Singsuk Singprai said several NLA members agreed the two bills do not breach the constitution.
A petition seeking a Constitutional Court ruling on the two bills requires the backing of at least 25 members of the assembly.
However, positives can be drawn from the fact that few argued against them during Thursday's NLA debate, Gen Singsuk said.
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