Thailand’s prime pinister dissolved parliament on Friday, paving the way for general elections early next year as deadly border clashes continue with neighbour Cambodia.

The move comes earlier than expected and just three months after Anutin Charnvirakul — of the conservative Bhumjaithai party — became prime minister when his predecessor was removed from office over an ethics violation.

“The House of Representatives is dissolved to hold a new general election for members of the House,” a decree published in the Royal Gazette on Friday said.

Anutin was widely expected to wait until after Christmas to dissolve parliament.

“Since the administration is a minority government and domestic political conditions are fraught with multiple challenges, the government cannot continue administering state affairs continuously, efficiently, and with stability,” the Royal Gazette said, citing a report received from Anutin.

“Therefore, the appropriate solution is to dissolve the House of Representatives and hold a new general election.”

The dissolution comes as fighting stemming from a decades-long territorial dispute over ancient temples has flared again on the border with Cambodia, where clashes have killed at least 20 people and displaced around 600,000, mostly in Thailand.

In a statement, Cambodia’s defense ministry said the Thai military continued to shell and fire machine guns into Cambodian territory on Friday morning.

AFP journalists heard continuous artillery fire at the border on Friday, ahead of an expected call between Anutin and US president Donald Trump, who has made vocal attempts to broker peace between the Southeast Asian neighbours.

At the congressional ball at the White House on Thursday night, Trump claimed again to have solved eight wars.

“Although Thailand and Cambodia, I think I’m going to have to make a couple of phone calls on Thailand, but we’ll get that one back on track,” he said.

The two countries have blamed each other for the fresh fighting, which saw Thailand launch air strikes and use tanks against its neighbour on Monday.

Evacuees at a shelter in Thailand’s Surin province told AFP they were less concerned about who leads the new government than about who would improve their lives along the border.

“I just care that the leader, whoever that is, is someone who helps ordinary farmers like us,” said 68-year-old Somrak Suebsoontorn.