Al Jazeera English
Streamed live 2 hours ago
Thailand elections Millions of people are weighing up how they’ll vote in Thailand’s first election since the military took power in a 2014 coup. About seven million people will vote for the first time in an election contested by 81 political parties. Yet while younger people are newly-energised about the poll, there are concerns that a new constitution authored by the military-led National Council for Peace and Order has ensured that the army will directly appoint members of the upper house - effectively acting as the arbiter of who holds a majority in the combined parliament. The pro-army Phalang Pracharat stands to benefit most from the new constitutional rules at the expense of major parties Pheu Thai and Future Forward.
Meanwhile, Thai authorities are zealously policing online speech for violations of laws governing campaigning – which democracy and free speech advocates say effectively cracks down on criticism and dissent. We'll look at some of the major issues at stake as Sunday’s vote draws near.
