<div> <div>FIDH and its member organization Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) express their serious concern over the decision by Thailand’s opposition party, the Democrat Party, to boycott the general election scheduled to take place on February 2, 2014.&nbsp;</div> </div> <div> </div>

<p>It is with great sadness that this column announces the death this week in Thailand of Khun Pracha Thipatai.&nbsp; Coming so soon after that of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, it is natural and informative to draw comparisons between the two lives.</p> <p></p>

<p>On 16 Sept,&nbsp;The Asia Foundation released&nbsp;findings from its first national survey of the Thai electorate. The survey, Constitutional Reform and&nbsp;Democracy in Thailand: A National Survey of the Thai Electorate, was conducted through face-to-face&nbsp;interviews with a random, representative sample of 1,500 voters from all regions of the country (except&nbsp;the three southern border provinces) between June 13 and July 5, 2009.</p>