<p>Early voting for the 2019 general election took place on Sunday&nbsp;(17 March), with the highest early voter turnout rate ever. However, the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) seemed unprepared. Early voters faced a long list of obstacles, including no lists of candidates, long waiting times and being given ballot papers for the wrong constituency. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Overseas voting for the upcoming 2019 general election began on 4 March and will continue until 16 March. However, many Thai voters living overseas are facing difficulties casting their votes in UK, US, China, Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, Russia, and Japan, from long waiting times at the poll to ballots not arriving in the mail.</p>

<p>On 7 March 2019, the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart Party (TRC), claiming that the TRC&rsquo;s nomination of former princess Ubolratana Mahidol as their candidate for Prime Minister was in opposition to the constitutional monarchy. To many, the verdict was not entirely unexpected. Nevertheless, the court&rsquo;s ruling is another in a series of political earthquakes which have shaken Thailand in the period leading up to the general election on 24 March 2019, triggering a chain of reaction from the moment the verdict was delivered.</p>

<p>ThisAble.me&nbsp;interviewed Pongsak Chan-on, the Thailand coordinator for ANFREL, on the challenges faced by people with disability voting in the upcoming 2019 general election.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Thailand is due to have a general election on 24 March, only 18 days from now. This election is the first since the 2014 military coup, and now, at the height of campaigning, it seems that LGBTQ rights are on the agenda of many political parties. Party representatives are presenting their LGBTQ rights policy on various platforms, including debate shows, and representatives of quite a few parties even attended the Chiang Mai Pride festival, which was held on 21 February 2019.</p>

<p>On 8 March, Col Burin Thongprapai, the NCPO&rsquo;s legal officer, filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) against the website administrator and other relevant personnel of the Future Forward Party (FFP) for contempt of court.</p>

<p>The Constitutional Court of Thailand has ruled to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart Party (TRC), and to prohibit TRC executive board members from running in an election, forming a new party, or be a board member of another party for a period of 10 years starting from today.</p>