EC in the firing line over advance voting blunders

By The Nation

 

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday reiterated that he would not support Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power as prime minister. 

 

Voters and candidates asked the Election Commission (EC) to take responsibility for poor preparations that led to mistakes, confusion and inconvenience to advance voters abroad last week even as the country braces for millions of early votes expected to be cast in the Kingdom this Sunday.
 

Prior to the March 24 general election, Thailand is holding advance voting in the Kingdom on Sunday, while overseas voting is scheduled from March 4-17. 

 

Parit Wacharasindhu, a Democrat Party candidate in Bangkok’s constituency 13, yesterday said a printed document distributed to voters in London, showing the names of candidates, was flawed and left the voters confused.

 

As an instance, Parit pointed out that information about him – his photo, name, number and his party name – were not on the same page. 

 

 

The candidates’ name-list distributed to voters that caused confusion.

 

“I’m not the only one; even candidates from other parties are affected. It could lead to confusion among voters or they may pick the wrong number for their chosen candidate,” Parit posted on his Facebook wall.

 

A similar problem was encountered by Future Forward Party candidate Nittcha Boonlue, a candidate in the same constituency as Parit. She posted on her Facebook that the party name above her photo was misleading and could have led voters to misunderstand that she was a candidate of that party. 

 

Niphatphon Suwanchana, a candidate in Bangkok’s constituency 16 from the Seri Ruam Thai Party, yesterday filed a complaint with the EC, seeking corrections to the document.

 

He said a voter had asked him which party he represented, as the document showed him representing the New Phalang Dhamma Party.

 

“The mistake would affect the results of my party. I want to know how the EC would take responsibility for these shortcomings, as advance voting is going to be held in Thailand on Sunday,” he said.

 

In response to the complaints, the EC yesterday held an urgent meeting and ordered an investigation into the misleading information in the candidate name-list document. It urged voters to download the “Smart Vote” application to check information about candidates. 

 

In Kuala Lumpur, reports said around 4,000 Thai voters formed a long queue in front of the Thai embassy as they registered to cast their ballots on Saturday. But their enthusiasm to vote was overshadowed by a photo circulated in social media of a cardboard box being erected to serve as polling booth. 

 

Netizens questioned the legality of using a cardboard box and criticised the poor preparation by the authorities.

 

 

EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma defended the move, saying using a cardboard box as a voting booth may not look good, but it was not illegal. The boxes were used to create additional voting booths to accommodate more voters, he added. 

 

To accommodate the thousands of overseas Thai voters, the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur extended the time to cast ballots from 5pm to 9.30pm and until the last registered voter had cast their vote, according to Busadee Santipitaks, director-general of the Department of Information.

 

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday reiterated that he would not support Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power as prime minister. 

 

“Our goal is to win the election and become the core party [to form the next government], not a coalition. So, I’m announcing clearly that if I win, I will form a government that is not corrupted and does not cling to power,” he said.

 

The ex-premier made it clear for the first time that if his party failed to win, they will be the opposition as their stance is to neither join a government led by Pheu Thai nor a party that supports the military retaining power. 

 

Abhisit said that if his party won, he reserved the right to choose their coalition partners.

 

“I won’t invite Phalang Pracharat to join the coalition unless they deny the perpetuation of power and ensure Prayut will not be involved [in the Cabinet],” he added. 

 

“Because the most likely situation that could create a conflict is the retaining of power, and Prayut is most likely to become the centre of the conflict after the election,” Abhisit added. 

 

However, it would all depend on the poll result, he added.

 

His announcement on his stance, which he said was also his party’s position, was meant to sincerely inform voters on the scenarios. Abhisit told a press conference with party executives that he was ready to welcome all reactions, positive or negative.

 

“It is possible that my stance may result in my party losing popularity or votes, but I’m glad that we are being fair to the voters [informing them of our position before they cast their votes],” he added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30365618

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-12

Can someone enlighten me as to what the point of the election is other than to disrupt some valuable drinking time.

I mean, we all know who is going to win. Right?

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Voters and candidates asked the Election Commission (EC) to take responsibility for poor preparations that led to mistakes, confusion and inconvenience

asking a thai to voluntarily lose face for their incompetence ? nothing will happen

How many years did they have to prepare for this election? No doubt they only started to prepare for this election a couple of weeks ago. Either that or they simply don’t care ‘cos they know there’s nothing free or fair allowed to happen. 

Further to the post above...

 

The last successful election in Thailand was in 2011.

 

What the hell have the Election Commissioners and the Election Commission staff been doing for the last eight years or so? What groundwork did they do? How much advance preparation did they do for this election? How much money in salary did they take? How much money in expenses did they take? How much foreign travel did they take? How much in health benefits did they take? How much in pension contributions did they take?

 

What the hell have they been doing for EIGHT years?

 

Getting ballots wrong is grounds for annulling an election (in jurisdictions that have a semblance of 'Rule of Law'), yet it is certain that these... things will simply continue to collect their wages, gobble up perks, and laugh all the way to the bank as they toss an election to the Junta.

 

THIS is why some refer to Thailand as a 'Third-World' country.

 

2 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

What the hell have they been doing for EIGHT years?

 

In all fairness they spent the last 5 years wondering if they still had a job. Then when elections were actually called the rules kept changing. 

 

It is good this information came out this week not last week as it was reported that the EC were on a "fact finding" trip last week in Europe. Maybe they could have checked the ballot papers during their visit.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma defended the move, saying using a cardboard box as a voting booth may not look good, but it was not illegal. The boxes were used to create additional voting booths to accommodate more voters, he added. 

It doesn't and the junta does not do good.   Thailand needs a change from the current government full of usurpers. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Abhisit said that if his party won, he reserved the right to choose their coalition partners.

 

“I won’t invite Phalang Pracharat to join the coalition unless they deny the perpetuation of power and ensure Prayut will not be involved [in the Cabinet],” he added. 

 

“Because the most likely situation that could create a conflict is the retaining of power, and Prayut is most likely to become the centre of the conflict after the election,” Abhisit added. 

 

Very interesting words indeed. I think everyone knows the outcome of this 'free and fair' election which "needs no international and independant observers" but what will happen after is something else. Will Thais accept the results of the poll and will they accept the military holding power for decades to come.????

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Very interesting words indeed. I think everyone knows the outcome of this 'free and fair' election which "needs no international and independant observers" but what will happen after is something else. Will Thais accept the results of the poll and will they accept the military holding power for decades to come.????

Sadly, they will have no choice.

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

What the hell have they been doing for EIGHT years?

Beginning in August 2018 the junta-appointed NLA began replacing all the existing Election Commission members who had to retire according to their maximum time of service. So the current seven members are new as EC members. www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30352219

Basically, it's the military replacing a previous military EC members.

Change the horses but the saddle and bit remain the same.

 

 

5 hours ago, newatthis said:

6 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Very interesting words indeed. I think everyone knows the outcome of this 'free and fair' election which "needs no international and independant observers" but what will happen after is something else. Will Thais accept the results of the poll and will they accept the military holding power for decades to come.????

Sadly, they will have no choice.

Please do not change my post (bold type). And yes Thais will and do have a choice. People can choose but will they. Eventually the malmanagement of the economy, corruption and degradation of democracy and democratic values by the junta will lead to it's downfall. I fear for the time when the people will have to raise up against the military if they want to keep Thailand, Thailand.????

Not started well then has it, the shape of things to come!

How do you hold an election when you only got one party !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Abhisit is the only man capable of running Thailand. Smart, well educated, non corrupted, speaks fluent English and able to communicate with any World Leaders. I wish I could vote but at least I spend time

convincing people in our Village this is the Man. I told the wife to vote for him or I'll sleep in the spare

bedroom for the next...….few hours.