The Thai government has announced the dissolution of parliament and the Election Commission (EC), with a general election set for May 14, 2023. Social media users are gearing up to exercise their right to vote after a long wait since 2019. However, some concerns remain about the transparency of the process and rules, including suggestions for more appropriate campaign signs.

Data from social listening platform DXT360 shows high engagement of over 1.41 million posts, tweets, and shares across various social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, between March 20-22, 2023, after the government’s announcement of the election date. Among those engaged, 42% were men and 58% were women. Facebook had the highest engagement with 1,102,267, followed by Instagram with 189,400, YouTube with 93,944, and Twitter with 27,679.

The EC has also posted a message on Facebook announcing that voter registration will take place on May 14, 2023, from 8 am to 5 pm. Voters will be given two ballots to select their preferred candidates or political parties, with one ballot for constituency-based candidates and the other for party-list candidates. Voters are encouraged to visit the https://www.thaivote.info website to learn more about the electoral process and use the hashtag #ThaiVoteThaiUseRights to show their participation.

Meanwhile, political parties have been introducing their candidates for parliament and actively campaigning both online and offline. Despite various opinions and concerns expressed online, the majority of social media users seem interested in exercising their voting rights and are seeking clarity on the election rules and procedures. They also hope for more transparency and a simplified election process that is not confusing or prone to errors, as seen in the case of differences in candidate numbers between constituency-based candidates and party-list candidates.