Thailand

Thailand will hold its first general election in eight years on the 24th of this month. On the 17th, early voting before the formal elections was held in various parts of Thailand. Although there is still a full week before the formal elections, the Thai people voted with enthusiasm, and many voters went to polling stations despite the heat. On that day, more than 928,000 voters participated in the early voting in Bangkok alone. It is expected that more than 2.3 million voters across Thailand will vote before the official election on the 24th.

At 8 am on the 17th, many voters waiting to vote were gathered in front of the polling place of the Thai-Japanese Youth Center in Bangkok. They lined up in an orderly manner according to the place of residence. The population of Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima are in Bangkok. There was even a long queue in front of the polling place in the government. According to Thai election rules, early voting is generally for those voters who cannot return to their place of residence on the day of the general election. Nuni from Songkhla told the Global Times reporter that she has been working in Bangkok for a long time and will definitely not be able to return to her hometown of Songkhla on the day of the 24th general election, so she chose to vote in advance. "This is the first general election for Thais in 8 years. I feel that everyone takes it seriously. This is being discussed on social networks. There would not be so many people who voted early in the previous general election."

According to Thailand’s current electoral system, Thai voters will directly elect 500 members of the House of Commons during the general election, and then the elected members of the House of Commons and 250 members of the Upper House appointed by the National Peacekeeping Commission will jointly vote to elect the new ruling party. And the prime minister. Some Thai media believe that under the current election rules, the Civic Force led by the current Prime Minister Prayut is most likely to win. However, given the lack of economic performance of the Prayut government in the past five years, and the Thai people’s attitude towards the military government The general dislike of the general election, the final result of this election is difficult to predict. According to an announcement issued by the Thai Election Commission on February 15, the 68 candidates for the prime minister's position came from 44 political parties.

　　Since March 4, Thai embassies and consulates in overseas countries have successively organized local Thai overseas Chinese to participate in the voting in advance. It is reported that there are close to 120,000 Thai voters in 67 overseas countries. According to data from the Thai Election Commission, nearly 5,000 qualified voters will go to the Thai Embassy in China to vote.