BANGKOK (Bloomberg): Thailand’s election agency is facing allegations of ballot traceability in the Feb 8 election, with growing calls from activists and politicians for the vote to be annulled potentially delaying the formation of a new government.
Civil society groups, academics, and voters have raised concerns about the secrecy of the poll because of the presence of unique QR and bar codes printed on ballot papers. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s ruling conservative Bhumjaithai party secured a surprise victory in the vote and is in talks with other parties to form a coalition.
The Election Commission defended its process last week, saying the codes were intended to prevent fraud and ensure proper accounting of ballot papers. It acknowledged that the codes could theoretically link each ballot to a stub bearing a voter’s signature, but said that the ballots, stubs, and voter registration data are stored separately.
The scrutiny comes at a critical juncture for Thailand, whose snap election was widely seen as a test of whether the country could break from nearly two decades of political turbulence marked by coups and court-ordered party dissolutions.
Any move to invalidate results or order recounts could drag out the government formation process and heighten political uncertainty, potentially unsettling financial markets and further denting investor confidence in an economy already struggling to catch up with regional peers.
Pro-democracy Senator Nantana Nantavaropas told reporters on Tuesday that she would seek the support of other senators to file a petition to the Constitutional Court to annul the election. "These ballots are dangerous,” she told reporters. "Our ultimate demand is that this election be invalidated and the ballots be destroyed completely.”
Activists, lawyers and politicians have also filed lawsuits at the Administrative Court to suspend the results and petitions with the National Anti-Corruption Commission to scrutinize election officials.
Several protests have been held over the Election Commission’s handling of ballot papers and discrepancies between vote counts and ballots cast at several polling stations, deepening unease in a country where trust in electoral institutions remains fragile.
On Sunday, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the leader of the reformist People’s Party that came second in the vote, said the group had filed a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman accusing the Election Commission of malfeasance under the Thai criminal code.
The Election Commission was given seven days from Monday to formally clarify its position, said Ombudsman Sarayoot Sanguanphokai, adding that his office had 60 days to decide whether to file a petition to the Constitutional Court about the validity of the election.
The Asian Network for Free Elections, a Bangkok-based monitoring group that observed the Feb. 8 election, said the poll agency must restore trust by immediately releasing detailed vote counts and accede to public demands for recounts.
"The ECT’s response so far has failed to satisfy growing public demand for accountability,” Anfrel said in a statement on Tuesday.
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