<p>Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and his Cabinet attended the constitutional oath-taking ceremony before King Vajiralongkorn on 16 July 2019. 9 days later, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul spotted a mistake in the oath and consulted with the Speaker of Parliament about what to do, as the words that were spoken deviated from the oath as stated in Section 161 of the 2017 Constitution.</p>

<p>ASEAN countries and China have taken a step closer to the promised Code of Conduct governing the South China Sea. However, it has to be noted that as always Beijing has not given up its claims while the diplomats are taking their sweet time.</p>

<p>Thailand&rsquo;s 2019 general election took place yesterday (24 March), and the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) did not seem to do any better on election day than it did with overseas and advance voting which were plagued with difficulties</p>

<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>