<Li> 2014 general election: Thaksin Shinawatra's sister Yingluck Shinawatra became Thailand's first female prime minister on 3 August 2011 when she won a landslide election victory on 3 July 2011 . Peace prevailed in Thailand for the next for two and a half years under Prime Minister Yingluck's rule . The country returned to another political crisis in November 2013 when her opponents wanted the prime minister and her Pheu Thai Party government to resign after she tried to pass a controversial amnesty bill in parliament which would permit the return of her brother Thaksin as a free man . However, the bill was not passed because the government succumbed to pressure from the weeks of street protests and blockades that took place in Bangkok, which intensified before the King's birthday . On 9 December 2013, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra decided to dissolve parliament and called a snap general election, which was held on 2 February 2014 . This announcement came a day after the resignation of all MPs from the main opposition Democrat Party led by opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, which boycotted the election afterwards . </Li> <P> In Ukraine a snap poll must have a voter turnout higher than 50% . </P> <P> The conditions for when a snap election can be called have been significantly restricted by the Fixed - term Parliaments Act 2011 to occasions when the government loses a confidence motion or when a two - thirds supermajority of MPs vote in favour . Prior to this, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had the de facto power to call an election at will by requesting a dissolution from the monarch--the limited circumstances where this would not be granted were set out in the Lascelles Principles . There was no fixed period for holding elections, although between 1997 and 2015 there was a convention that the government should hold elections on the same date as local elections on the first Thursday of May . Since World War II, only the 2015 general election was held on the latest possible date (7 May 2015), due to being the first general election at the end of a fixed - term Parliament . </P> <P> The following elections were called by a voluntary decision of the government less than four years after the previous election: </P>

When does the british prime minister call for an election