Seventy-three provinces have been ordered by the Election Commission (EC) to consider public proposals for redrawing electoral constituencies and then organise further hearings to gauge the reaction to the new dividing lines.
Samut Songkhram, Ranong, Trat and Sing Buri which only have one constituency each, meanwhile, are only required to make an announcement to inform voters of their own amendments without having to hold a hearing, according to an urgent letter sent to all provincial election commissions.
The hearings requirement for between three and 10 proposals per constituency redrawing in the 73 provinces began yesterday and runs until Mar 13, then from Mar 14–15 the EC will process opinions gathered from these provinces to announce the final map on Mar 16, said the letter.
Meanwhile, in an announcement in the Royal Gazette on Friday, the EC said the average population per MP is 162,766 which was calculated using the total Thai population of 65.1 million recorded on Dec 31 last year, divided by the number of 400 constituencies nationwide.
This calculation formula has resulted in four provinces having one more MP and another four having one less for the election, said the EC.
Udon Thani, Lop Buri, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani have one additional MP each, while Tak, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Samut Sakhon would each lose one.
The new formula follows Friday's ruling by the Constitutional Court that non-Thai citizens cannot be included as part of the population in calculating the number of people represented by each MP.
The ruling was in response to a petition lodged against the EC after several politicians and academics disagreed with its methodology in which it included three groups of non-Thais in the database to guide the redrawing of constituency boundaries.
Among them were permanent residence permit holders, those with temporary residences and individuals who have been living in Thailand for more than 10 years.
In another announcement also published in the Royal Gazette on Friday, the EC has capped the ceiling for campaign expenses per candidate at 1.9 million baht ahead of an expected early House dissolution.
The maximum expenditure allowed per party is 44 million baht in the case of a House dissolution and 160 million baht in the event that the full term is served.