Fears grow after early vote
EC faces heat over 'widespread' errors
by Chairith Yonpiam and Mongkol Bangprapa
February 3, 2026
Political parties have urged the Election Commission (EC) to urgently investigate irregularities reported during advance voting, warning that the problems could undermine public confidence ahead of Sunday's poll.
Advance voting was held nationwide a week prior and saw a high turnout. In Bangkok alone, 845,853 voters registered to cast ballots outside their constituencies, with 740,966 turning out, representing 87.6%.
Similar levels of participation were reported in many provinces, with a wide range of problems reported across the country, including errors in addressing envelopes raising fears that ballots could be misallocated or invalidated.
Other issues included incomplete or missing candidate lists, the disappearance of candidate leaflets, outdated QR code data and confusion among officials. In some cases, voters were initially denied their right to vote despite their names appearing in the system.
The People's Party (PP), Pheu Thai and legal watchdog iLaw have called on the EC to take responsibility and conduct a thorough investigation.
The PP said it will on Tuesday submit an urgent letter to the EC calling for an immediate investigation and the removal of polling officials accused of providing false information. It warned that if those responsible are not held accountable, the commission itself could face legal liability for dereliction of duty.
Rukchanok Srinork, a PP list candidate, said candidate lists were missing from notice boards in several provinces. When questioned, some EC officials reportedly told voters that the party's candidates had been disqualified, a claim she said was untrue.
She also criticised cases where QR codes linked to information from the 2023 election rather than the current contest, and described envelope labelling errors as unacceptable. While some mistakes could be attributed to carelessness, she argued that others appeared deliberate and unfair.
The Pheu Thai Party also raised concerns after deploying observers to 16 provinces, particularly in areas where advance voting registrations had increased sharply.
iLaw reported receiving multiple complaints, including a case in Nonthaburi where officials wrote the wrong constituency number on ballot envelopes for a group of voters. While acknowledging widespread procedural errors, the organisation said there was no clear evidence of coordinated electoral fraud.
Former election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said most of the problems appeared to stem from human error and flawed system design rather than deliberate fraud.
He noted that the manual process of writing constituency details on envelopes was unnecessarily complex and prone to mistakes, suggesting that the use of pre-printed labels or a centralised system could significantly reduce errors.
EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee apologised for the mistakes but urged the public not to unfairly accuse election staff, many of whom are volunteers. He said documented errors could still be corrected through established procedures and called on officials not to lose morale ahead of the general election.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... early-vote
Thai election - Flawed? Why am I not surprised?
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Gaybutton
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Gaybutton
- Posts: 24325
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
- Location: Thailand
- Has thanked: 3 times
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Re: Thai election - Flawed? Why am I not surprised?
I'm waiting for whoever loses to make the "Trump Declaration". The election was stolen!
Come to think of it, the last Thai election actually was . . .
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Gaybutton
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Re: Thai election - Flawed? Why am I not surprised?
And I'm still not surprised . . .
"The incompetence here is absolutely radiant!"
- George C. Scott (Dr. Herbert Bock), 'The Hospital'
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Polling station moved without notice, voters upset
Nationwide, Bangkok voters file the most complaints
February 8, 2026
People going to vote at a polling station at Bang Bua housing flats in Lak Si district, Bangkok, on Sunday voiced loud complaints after the Election Commission (EC) moved it to another location without advance notice.
The new location was about 100 metres from the original polling station. Despite the short distance, voters said the lack of notice caused confusion and wasted time, as they had to search out the new location themselves.
The four polling booths - units 6–9 in Talat Bang Khen, Lak Si in Bangkok’s constituency 9 -were moved from the ground floor of Bang Bua Flats block 3 to block 13.
According to media reports, some presiding officers said they had been informed of the change by the EC as early as Jan 24. They did not know why voters were not notified.
The situation forced polling staff to handle public criticism throughout the morning. The posted information sign still read “Block 3” until about noon, when officials from all four units used markers to add the number “1” in front of the 3.
Bang Bua community representatives also made announcements through the public address system, informing voters of the change.
- Complaints of irregularities nationwide -
Meanwhile, at least 200 reports of problems at polling stations nationwide had been filed on election monitoring platform by the Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw) as Thailand passed the halfway mark of election day.
As of 2pm, there were 283 reports of irregularities encountered by voters at 273 polling stations, with Bangkok reporting the highest number of problems.
The most commonly reported issue was polling stations failing to display all candidates’ information, followed by voters being unable to find their names for candidate and constitutional referendum ballots, and polling station locations not matching those shown on the Department of Administration’s website.
Other concerns reported to iLaw - poll workers did not check ID cards, saying a queue number was sufficient; voters were not required to sign the voter registry before receiving ballot papers; and the official notice (MP Form 5/5) indicating the number of ballots at each station was not properly displayed.
Voting was due to end at 5pm, with the EC promising unofficial results by 11pm.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ters-upset
"The incompetence here is absolutely radiant!"
- George C. Scott (Dr. Herbert Bock), 'The Hospital'
___________________________________________
Polling station moved without notice, voters upset
Nationwide, Bangkok voters file the most complaints
February 8, 2026
People going to vote at a polling station at Bang Bua housing flats in Lak Si district, Bangkok, on Sunday voiced loud complaints after the Election Commission (EC) moved it to another location without advance notice.
The new location was about 100 metres from the original polling station. Despite the short distance, voters said the lack of notice caused confusion and wasted time, as they had to search out the new location themselves.
The four polling booths - units 6–9 in Talat Bang Khen, Lak Si in Bangkok’s constituency 9 -were moved from the ground floor of Bang Bua Flats block 3 to block 13.
According to media reports, some presiding officers said they had been informed of the change by the EC as early as Jan 24. They did not know why voters were not notified.
The situation forced polling staff to handle public criticism throughout the morning. The posted information sign still read “Block 3” until about noon, when officials from all four units used markers to add the number “1” in front of the 3.
Bang Bua community representatives also made announcements through the public address system, informing voters of the change.
- Complaints of irregularities nationwide -
Meanwhile, at least 200 reports of problems at polling stations nationwide had been filed on election monitoring platform by the Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw) as Thailand passed the halfway mark of election day.
As of 2pm, there were 283 reports of irregularities encountered by voters at 273 polling stations, with Bangkok reporting the highest number of problems.
The most commonly reported issue was polling stations failing to display all candidates’ information, followed by voters being unable to find their names for candidate and constitutional referendum ballots, and polling station locations not matching those shown on the Department of Administration’s website.
Other concerns reported to iLaw - poll workers did not check ID cards, saying a queue number was sufficient; voters were not required to sign the voter registry before receiving ballot papers; and the official notice (MP Form 5/5) indicating the number of ballots at each station was not properly displayed.
Voting was due to end at 5pm, with the EC promising unofficial results by 11pm.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ters-upset
Re: Thai election - Flawed? Why am I not surprised?
Nom was disappointed not to have been offered a bribe this year. He's usually been offered 300 Baht to vote for a particular candidate. He takes the view that it doesn't matter who wins as it makes no difference to him.
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Gaybutton
- Posts: 24325
- Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
- Location: Thailand
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 1671 times
Re: Thai election - Flawed? Why am I not surprised?
I certainly can understand why vote accuracy is necessary and needs to be checked if there is valid reason to suspect discrepancies, although I can't imagine the results changing or a new general election being ordered. Still, this being Thailand, who knows?
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Vote recounts ordered at eight locations, fresh election at one
Election Commission still dealing with numerous complaints about Feb 8 polls
February 17, 2026
The Election Commission has ordered vote recounts at eight locations including one in Bangkok, and a fresh election at one polling station in Phayao.
According to the announcement issued on Tuesday night, a recount will be held for constitutional referendum ballots at polling station No.10 in Kannayao sub-district, Kannayao district of Bangkok. It will begin at the polling station at 10am on Sunday, Feb 22.
Vote recounts for the list-MP election on Feb 8 will take place at seven other locations in four provinces:
* Prachuap Khiri Khan: Polling stations 2 (tambon Rai Mai) and 8 (tambon Sam Roi Yot), Constituency 1 in Sam Roi Yot district
* Phetchabun: Polling station No.1 (tambon Na Yom), Constituency 1 in Muang district; polling station 2 (tambon Nong Phai), Constituency 4 in Nong Pai district
* Kamphaeng Phet: Polling stations 8 (tambon Nikhom Thung Pho Thalay) and 14 (tambon Thep Nakhon), Constituency 1 in Muang district
* Sakon Nakhon: Polling station No. 32 (tambon That Choeng Chum), Constituency 1 in Muang district.
A fresh election for constituency and list MPs has also been ordered at polling station No.6 (tambon Tha Wang Thong) of Constituency 1 in Muang district of Phayao province.
The commission said the times and places for the list-MP vote recounts and the fresh election would be announced later.
The EC had previously resolved to hold new voting at three polling stations:
* Unit 9, Constituency 15 in Kannayao, Bangkok
* Unit 3, Constituency 1, tambon Chai Sathan in Muang district of Nan
* Unit 4, Constituency 6, tambon Phon Sung in Chai Wan district of Udon Thani.
There were 99,487 polling stations in the Feb 8 general election.
Flood of complaints
The EC has faced a flood of complaints about its handling of the polls, with some legal actions already under way to press for the election results to be annulled and new polls held nationwide.
Voters and political parties have flagged thousands of instances nationwide, ranging from mishandling of ballots and ballot boxes to discrepancies in vote totals and online updates, and misbehaviour by polling officials.
Discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters recorded at many polling stations have delayed the formal certification of the results.
The unofficial vote count has been stalled at 94% of the total cast since the day after the Feb 8 polls, while a count of at least 95% is required to certify the results.
Figures published on the EC’s unofficial results website indicate a difference of more than 66,000 between constituency and party-list ballots cast nationwide.
Under the electoral system, each voter is issued two ballot papers at the same time — one for the constituency race and one for the party-list vote — raising questions as to how such a discrepancy could have occurred.
As well, numerous individuals and organisations have argued that the use of barcodes and QR codes on ballots, supposedly for anti-counterfeiting and security reasons, contravened the constitutional requirement that voting be secret and untraceable to individual voters.
Following the backlash, the EC acknowledged that the serial numbers and barcodes could be used to trace a voter’s ballot paper, though it would take considerable effort to do so.
However, it insisted that the information would not be used to trace voters and would remain strictly confidential, with safeguards in place to prevent disclosure.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... ion-at-one
_____________________________________________________
Vote recounts ordered at eight locations, fresh election at one
Election Commission still dealing with numerous complaints about Feb 8 polls
February 17, 2026
The Election Commission has ordered vote recounts at eight locations including one in Bangkok, and a fresh election at one polling station in Phayao.
According to the announcement issued on Tuesday night, a recount will be held for constitutional referendum ballots at polling station No.10 in Kannayao sub-district, Kannayao district of Bangkok. It will begin at the polling station at 10am on Sunday, Feb 22.
Vote recounts for the list-MP election on Feb 8 will take place at seven other locations in four provinces:
* Prachuap Khiri Khan: Polling stations 2 (tambon Rai Mai) and 8 (tambon Sam Roi Yot), Constituency 1 in Sam Roi Yot district
* Phetchabun: Polling station No.1 (tambon Na Yom), Constituency 1 in Muang district; polling station 2 (tambon Nong Phai), Constituency 4 in Nong Pai district
* Kamphaeng Phet: Polling stations 8 (tambon Nikhom Thung Pho Thalay) and 14 (tambon Thep Nakhon), Constituency 1 in Muang district
* Sakon Nakhon: Polling station No. 32 (tambon That Choeng Chum), Constituency 1 in Muang district.
A fresh election for constituency and list MPs has also been ordered at polling station No.6 (tambon Tha Wang Thong) of Constituency 1 in Muang district of Phayao province.
The commission said the times and places for the list-MP vote recounts and the fresh election would be announced later.
The EC had previously resolved to hold new voting at three polling stations:
* Unit 9, Constituency 15 in Kannayao, Bangkok
* Unit 3, Constituency 1, tambon Chai Sathan in Muang district of Nan
* Unit 4, Constituency 6, tambon Phon Sung in Chai Wan district of Udon Thani.
There were 99,487 polling stations in the Feb 8 general election.
Flood of complaints
The EC has faced a flood of complaints about its handling of the polls, with some legal actions already under way to press for the election results to be annulled and new polls held nationwide.
Voters and political parties have flagged thousands of instances nationwide, ranging from mishandling of ballots and ballot boxes to discrepancies in vote totals and online updates, and misbehaviour by polling officials.
Discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters recorded at many polling stations have delayed the formal certification of the results.
The unofficial vote count has been stalled at 94% of the total cast since the day after the Feb 8 polls, while a count of at least 95% is required to certify the results.
Figures published on the EC’s unofficial results website indicate a difference of more than 66,000 between constituency and party-list ballots cast nationwide.
Under the electoral system, each voter is issued two ballot papers at the same time — one for the constituency race and one for the party-list vote — raising questions as to how such a discrepancy could have occurred.
As well, numerous individuals and organisations have argued that the use of barcodes and QR codes on ballots, supposedly for anti-counterfeiting and security reasons, contravened the constitutional requirement that voting be secret and untraceable to individual voters.
Following the backlash, the EC acknowledged that the serial numbers and barcodes could be used to trace a voter’s ballot paper, though it would take considerable effort to do so.
However, it insisted that the information would not be used to trace voters and would remain strictly confidential, with safeguards in place to prevent disclosure.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/po ... ion-at-one