BANGKOK, Thailand—Thailand’s parliament has postponed until next week a vote to elect a new prime minister after it failed to obtain a quorum in the House of Representatives.

The house speaker initially said the session Friday would be delayed for a lack of quorum but opened it after saying there were enough members for the vote.

However, a recount showed there were only 161 lawmakers present in the 480-member house. The vote is now scheduled to be held Wednesday. The low turnout was the result of a boycott by the opposition Democrat Party and some coalition partners of the ruling party to protest ousted leader Samak Sundaravej’s decision to re-contest the post.