BANGKOK, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's new round of general election begins Sunday morning, a poll called by the caretaker prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra three years ahead of schedule in a bid to renew his mandate and defuse the protests. It is the third election after its new constitution was adopted in 1997.

    The following are basic facts about the 2006 election:

    Political Parties - Among 18 political parties who registered 941 candidates for the election, only the ruling Thai Rak Thai party is expected to win parliamentary seats in the competition. Thaksin has promised to step down if his party wins less than 50 percent of the vote.

    Due to the boycott of the Democratic, Mahachon and Chart Thai party, Thai Rak Thai candidates must win 20 percent eligible votes to claim victory in unopposed constituencies. The party swept 377 seats in the 2005 general election.

    Parliamentary Seats - The parliamentary lower house has 500 seats. All the seats must be filled for a prime minister to be elected and a government formed. The constitution doesn't state what comes next if an election fails to produce enough MPs. But it stipulates that a full parliament must convene within 30 days of polling days.

    Candidates - The candidates are competing for 500 seats in the lower house. Four hundred legislators will be elected directly by voters while 100 party-list candidates will come out in accordance with the proportion of votes each party receives nationwide.

    Electorate and Polling Stations - Across the country are 400 constituencies with 86,905 polling stations, but a proportion of candidates was supposed to run unopposed in 168 constituencies.

    Voters - 45.2 million Thais are eligible to vote out of a population of 64.7 million. Voter turnout was 72 percent in last election. Enditem