Dubious results expose EC to glare of public scrutiny

By The Nation

 

 

The integrity of the Election Commission (EC) has come under question, as people are asking if the vote tally has been free and fair.

 

It is also being roasted for the confusing and contradicting results released through its Rapid Report system on Sunday night. 

 

The vote tally showing the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat beating former coalition leader Pheu Thai has raised many eyebrows, and made people raise queries over issues such as the mysterious surplus votes that far exceeded the turnout in many constituencies and the 2 million “spoiled” votes.

 

People were further frustrated by the agency’s decision to postpone the announcement of the initial poll results to Monday, backtracking on its earlier promise to complete 95 per cent of vote counting by Sunday evening. 

 

The public was also not amused when EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong said he could not tell how many voters had turned up because he did not have a “calculator” at his disposal at the time. 

 

The hashtags trending on Twitter with over 1.4 million tweets were “EC Busted” and “Election Fraud 2019”.

 

Some 400,000 signatures were also collected for a change.orgpetition to have the election commissioners removed for failing to hold a free and fair election. 

 

Meanwhile, the EC puts all this criticism down to misunderstanding, claiming that there were human errors in the unofficial poll results issued via its Rapid Report system. 

 

As for areas where the turnout and tally did not add up, the EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma blamed it on officials entering incorrect numbers in the system. 

 

He said official reports from all constituencies will be handed over to the EC on Tuesday and the data will be made available by Friday, though official results will only be released within May 9.

 

As for media speculation on the number of seats won by each party, Jarungvith warned that these figures might not match the reality. 

 

He said seat allocations could not be finalised until the EC has cleared all irregularities and complaints, and held by-elections where necessary. 

 

“The party-list MPs can change all the time until then,” Jarungvith said.

 

As for the ballots from advance voting in New Zealand, which missed yesterday’s counting, Jarungvith said EC has yet to make a decision on this matter. The ballots were delivered to the EC on Monday.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30366513

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-25

In other words get ready for either another coup or massive demonstrations and can not really be surprised or lay blame for either . 

5 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong said he could not tell how many voters had turned up because he did not have a “calculator” at his disposal at the time

someone could make a fortune by creating a phone app that is a calculator! ????

Oh, what a tangled web we weave ..

20 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

and made people raise queries over issues such as the mysterious surplus votes that far exceeded the turnout in many constituencies and the 2 million “spoiled” votes.

Should be fun listening to the EC explanation for that but past decisions such as the PPRP fund raising dinner show that new lows are always possible.

My oh My what the junta has done with the EC up their rear end muscle. How can anyone trust this dishonestly is beyond stupidity. To up rise is better than to cower. 

28 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

president Ittiporn Boonpracong said he could not tell how many voters had turned up because he did not have a “calculator” at his disposal at the time. 

this type of attitude and the body language tells everything... fair and square my a...

This beyonf farcical...a complete and utter joke...they can’t even get a fake rugged election right. 

 

We have had an election and not a single person in the whole of Thailand has any clue about what the results mean (much less whether they are even real or not).

 

This is simply unfathomable...even by Thai standards this is truly pathetic.

 

And the real true official results won’t even be known for another 6 weeks. How can this be possible??

 

Thisbis beyond words.

9 minutes ago, Lungstib said:

Should be fun listening to the EC explanation for that but past decisions such as the PPRP fund raising dinner show that new lows are always possible.

and Prayut last minute election/campaigning  show which is (supposed to be) illegal

 

The Establishment Commission is being criticized?  they should complaint to Prayut about it.  

BBC reported a 64% turnout, I was under the impression that Thai HAD to vote unless they had a good reason not to so where are the other 36% (?) of votes?

 

7 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

The Establishment Commission is being criticized?  they should complaint to Prayut about it.  

you want to get shot 555

It is just embarrassing.  

Just now, BobbyL said:

It is just embarrassing.  

  not for them

3 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

It is just embarrassing.  

now we understand why they didn't want foreigners supervising the election, they don't understand if they had the foreigners supervising their cheating wouldn't raise so many questions by declining to allow the supervisors already started raising questions about the fair and square process

11 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

now we understand why they didn't want foreigners supervising the election, they don't understand if they had the foreigners supervising their cheating wouldn't raise so many questions by declining to allow the supervisors already started raising questions about the fair and square process

They've exercised the new norm in elections. It doesn't matter how you win just as long as you win.

No shame. No pride.

Obvious stitch-up really as there is no way a new military party could magic up that sort of support so quickly despite their sneaky approach of just try to get enough and not looking too obvious...almost bang on for that. Beginning to look like far too many irregularities for it to be legit, even at the wildest stretches of the imagination. They sealed it really by obstructing ASEAN observers and failing to allow credible international observers in...pretty much null and void once you do that. 

 

Only fly in the military's ointment is FFP who did much better than expected, despite the best efforts of the junta to the opposite and might be on the "To be dissolved" list. 

 

The only other conclusion that can be drawn, if we are to believe these outrageous results, is that there is a massive section of Thai society that are nasty closet fascists that believe in the future of Thailand being run by unaccountable lawless corrupt Chinese-Thai killjoys.

23 minutes ago, BobbyL said:

It is just embarrassing.  

Not for me, though there are some on here that hero worship the present regime that should be embarrassed, but they wont be!

This country deserves so much better ....????

The CSI LA Facebook page has lots of irrelguarities. Looks like a stolen election to me. They are really playing with fire. The younger voters are pissed off.

 

Personaly, I stay out of it and just observe. Discussing politics with thai is something I simply try not to do. If they want to talk about it its up to them. And its been the younger people who has been outspoken and as I say, pissed off.

Spotlight on EC after dubious results

By KAS CHANWANPEN 
THE NATION

 

Election Commission secretary-general Jarungwit Phumma, left, along with his deputy Nath Laosisawakul, announces the unofficial results of Sunday’s general election yesterday at the Government Complex in Bangkok’s Chaeng Wattana Road.

 

Jarungvith blames ‘human error’ as social media erupts with ridicule.
 

THE INTEGRITY of the Election Commission (EC) has come into question with people asking if the vote tally has been free and fair.

 

It is also being roasted for confusing and contradictory results released through its Rapid Report system on Sunday night. 

 

A vote tally showing the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat beating former coalition leader Pheu Thai raised many eyebrows and triggered queries on issues such as votes that far exceeded the turnout in many constituencies and the unusually high count of spoiled ballots – 2 million. There was also public frustration at the agency’s decision to postpone the announcement of the poll results to Monday, backtracking on its earlier promise to complete 95 per cent of vote counting by Sunday evening. 

 

The public was also not amused when EC president Ittiporn Boonpracong quipped he could not tell how many voters had turned up because he did not have a “calculator” at his disposal. 

 

The top hashtags trending on Twitter with over 1.4 million tweets were “EC Busted” and “Election Fraud 2019”. As of 7pm yesterday, about 600,000 people had signed a change.org petition to have the election commissioners removed for failing to hold a free and fair election. 

 

Meanwhile, the EC put the criticism down to misunderstandings, claiming that there were human errors in the unofficial poll results issued via its Rapid Report system. 

 

As for areas where the turnout and vote tally did not add up, EC secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma blamed the discrepancies on officials entering incorrect numbers in the system. He said official reports from all constituencies would be handed over to the EC today and the data made available by Friday, though official results will only be released within May 9. 

 

EC warns on speculation

 

As for media speculation over the number of seats won by each party, Jarungvith warned that these figures might not match the reality. He said seat allocations could not be finalised until the EC has cleared all irregularities and complaints, and held by-elections if necessary. 

 

“The party-list MPs can change all the time until then,” Jarungvith said. As for the ballots from advance voting in New Zealand, which missed Sunday’s counting, Jarungvith said the EC has yet to make a decision on this matter. 

 

The ballots were delivered to the EC yesterday.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30366538

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-26

"...THE INTEGRITY of the Election Commission (EC) has come into question with people asking if the vote tally has been free and fair..."

 

Yes, it seems that many people are asking if it was 'Free and Fair'...

 

Countries, societies, polities don't fare well when citizens do not believe official bodies regarding elections.

 

Personally, I think it might be time for expats to stock up on groceries and keep one's head down for a bit...

 

 

Edited March 25, 20197 yr by Samui Bodoh

23 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...THE INTEGRITY of the Election Commission (EC) has come into question with people asking if the vote tally has been free and fair..."

 

Yes, it seems that many people are asking if it was 'Free and Fair'...

 

Countries, societies, polities don't fare well when citizens do not believe official bodies regarding elections.

 

Personally, I think it might be time for expats to stock up on groceries and keep one's head down for a bit...

 

 

"Personally I think it might be time...to keep one's head down for a bit..'

 

Excellent advice.

Fancy not being able to win outright a rigged election!

He doesn't have a calculator??? His cellphone is right in front of him on the table. Doesn't it have a calculator? Mine does.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Jarungvith blames ‘human error’ as social media erupts with ridicule.

Sure they are/were inept, they are appointed puppets of the junta, not a product of a meritocracy

12 hours ago, nong38 said:

BBC reported a 64% turnout, I was under the impression that Thai HAD to vote unless they had a good reason not to so where are the other 36% (?) of votes?

 

If they don't vote they lose the rights to run as councillors or MPs for a few years. Some said the 64% seemed too low compared to 87% for advanced voting the week before But advanced voters are keen, having to register early 

Vote buying was rife here guaranteed outside observers were turned down and the EC bought out the result could have been announced 2 months ago????

6 hours ago, webfact said:

THE INTEGRITY of the Election Commission (EC) has come into question

Should have allowed alcohol, ... now there is nothing else to blame but yourself.