| Participation in the Election Observation Program in Thailand | |||||||
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| Last updated 2023-05-31 | |||||||
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The Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) organized an election observation program on the occasion of the 2023 General Election scheduled for 14 May. The election is to elect 500 members to the House of Respresenatives. In response to ECT’s invitation, the A-WEB Secretariat decided to send its delegation to participate in the program. The delegation was headed by Ms. Myungsun Kim, Director of the Training and Publicity Department including Ms. Jinju Jo, Deputy Director of the Training Team, and Ms. Rita Taeryung Lee, Deputy Director of the Publicity Team.
The Election Observation Program in Thailand started on May 12, 2023, with ECT Chairperson’s welcome remarks. In the speech, he highlighted that election observation has been a valuable tool for improving electoral systems, and continuous education about democracy is a vital part of this process.
In total, about 67 international observers took part in the program - delegates from election management bodies and governmental organizations from 17 countries, including Australia, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, and others; and representatives from international organizations such as the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), UNDP, International IDEA and A-WEB.
Briefing Sessions After the opening ceremony, ECT briefed international observers on its election system. The presentations provided are the following: Powers and Roles of the Election Commission, the Election System in Thailand and Election Management Process by the Director General of the Department of Election and Referendum Administration; Political Party Formation and Political Party Activities by the General of the Department of Political Party Affairs; Public Participation in Election Process by Director General of the Department of Electoral Network Development; Investigations on Election Challenges and Guidelines on Preventing Electoral Frauds by Deputy Secretary-General.
All the presentations provided useful information on election management in Thailand.
The following is the summary of some presentations.
Advance Voting People
registered for advance voting can vote at designated polling stations
nationwide from 8 am to 5 pm on May 7, seven days before election day.
ECT
actively uses social media including LINE, Facebook, TikTok, and others.
Applications, including CIVIC EDUCATION, which provides knowledge concerning
the democratic systems based on the Constitution of Thailand and helps the
speakers in training in and outside the education institute; TA SAPPRAROT
(PINEAPPLE EYES) which helps people report any form of electoral fraud to ECT;
SMART VOTE, which allows the users to access the information of candidates,
political parties and election news publication.
Distribution of Election Materials and Equipment
One day
before election day, international observers had a chance to observe the
distribution of election materials and equipment at the Hainan Association of
Thailand and Yan Nawa District Office in Bangkok.
All the observers gathered at 7:30 am at the hotel lobby and departed to the spot. The place was crowded with polling station workers sitting on the floor and checking election materials and equipment. Polling station workers checked all the election materials and counted all the ballots according to the guidelines provided.
Election Day On 14 May 2023, election day,
international observers gathered at 7:10 am in the hotel lobby, wearing the
accreditation card distributed from ECT. The whole team first headed to polling
station No.21-26 at the Office of the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Phaya Thai District Bangkok. The mission
arrived there at 7:50 am. The polling stations opened on time and voters came
to the polls and waited in a queue.
The polling stations the mission
visited on election day were as follows:
 Voter Identification and Ballot
Distribution When a voter came to the polls, the polling officials guided the voter to check her/his name first on the bulletin and helped them check the polling station number.
Then the polling officials checked the voter’s ID and distributed two ballots. Voters signed the voter's list and ballot papers through all procedures. So, until the voter fills out the ballot, he/she needs to sign three times. When a voter is checked on the list, the polling officer inserts a small piece of paper with an identification of the voter in the stick so that they count the number of voters who visit polls in real time.
When the ballot paper is handed over to the voter, the ballot paper is folded and handed over in the same shape as the voter should put it in the ballot box after marking. This is considered visual support for voters, which improves voters’ convenience and efficiency of electoral procedures. We also found a dotted line on the back of the ballot paper so that voters can fold the ballot suitable to the ballot box.
When distributing ballot papers to voters in the poll, each paper is torn off from the ballot booklet and distributed. Accordingly, the top of the paper is left in the booklet, and voters sign the remaining part. The number of ballots was managed thoroughly.
Voting &Counting Through the 2023 general elections, the Members of the Representatives were elected in two ways: 100 members on a party-list basis and 400 members on a constituency basis. Therefore voters received two types of ballots at polling stations. And there were two separate boxes for each ballot.
At 5 pm, the polls ended. Voting and counting are implemented in the same polling stations. In the polling station at Bangkjen Primary School (Waisali Anuson), Talat Bang Khen Subdistrict, Lak Si District, Bangkok, the final polling station that the international observers visited, polling officials smoothly organized materials and equipment to prepare for vote-counting. It took less than 25 minutes to set up the counting environment after voting was completed.
Counting for two elections was implemented simultaneously. One official drew a slash with a pen on the front panel where the candidate's names were written every time the candidate's name was called and moved on to the next column in five units. Two officials counting each type of ballot opened the ballot by each side and showed every ballot to the observers, calling the number of the candidate on the ballot.
Tabulating Results and Announcements The mission also had a chance to visit the office of the Election Commission of Thailand and got a briefing about the real-time counting results across the country at the media center of ECT. The ECT office is located in the ten-floored governmental complex.
In the media center, international observers saw that officials monitored internet portals and social media to prevent and/or cope with fake news, misinformation, and disinformation. Also, we watched some screens which showed a broadcast indicating the number of votes counted in real time. According to the officials of ECT, the results from polling stations were collected by phone, fax, and LINE, a popular messenger application in Thailand.
These are what the mission observed until the evening of the election day.
The program consisted of
participants from different countries and continents. One of the most valuable
parts was the exchange of impressions and opinions. It helped us understand
that, as electoral practitioners and stakeholders, electoral observation plays
an important role in best practice exchange. Once again, on behalf of the A-WEB
Secretariat, we take this opportunity to thank ECT for the invitation to
observe the elections.
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