The king of Thailand has endorsed a royal decree to hold the election on October 15, the Cabinet Secretariat announced on Friday.

The secretariat said that the king signed the decree on Thursday before he went to hospital for a surgery.

Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra dissolved Parliament in February and called for a snap election in an effort to renew his mandate, but opposition parties boycotted the polls, leaving Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party as the only major party on the ballot.

After that, the Constitutional Court nullified the April 2 elections and the following by-elections since several parties were suspected of cheating.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2006)