Chon Buri recount decision due in two days

The Election Commission has sent a fact-finding team to Chon Buri to investigate allegations of widespread irregularities in the vote-counting process in a constituency won by Bhumjaithai Party candidate Suchart Chomklin, an acting deputy prime minister.

The commission on Tuesday set a two-day deadline for the inquiry to determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a recount in Constituency 1, where Mr Suchart was shown to have won with 43,703 votes, followed by People’s Party candidate Warot Sirirak with 39,920 — a margin of 3,783 votes.

However, students and other members of the public observing the vote counting on Sunday night reported a number of possible infractions as well as what they said were attempts to cover up misbehaviour and destroy evidence.

An all-night standoff ensued at a badminton court where the ballot boxes were being stored, with some protesters still at the scene on Tuesday saying they would not leave until they got answers.

The case in Chon Buri has attracted the most attention among thousands of alleged irregularities reported at polling stations all over the country, according to independent observers such as iLaw.

The People’s Party on Tuesday said it was seeking recounts in 10 constituencies including Chon Buri 1. “We accept the election results. Win or lose is something we can accept, but vote count fraud is something we cannot tolerate,” it said in a statement.  

Any recount must follow legal conditions, Acting Sub Lt Phasakorn Siriphakayaporn, a deputy secretary-general of the Election Commission, said at a briefing on Tuesday.

The authority to order a recount lies solely with the EC, he added.

The commission will assess evidence, factual circumstances and objections raised during each step of the process, including checking incident reports from polling stations to determine what occurred, he said.

Acting Sub Lt Phasakorn and Khanchit Charoen-in, another EC deputy secretary-general, are conducting the onsite inspection in Chon Buri, which must be completed within two days.

The Chon Buri provincial EC director has also been instructed to submit an overall report on the vote tally in the eastern province, which has 10 constituencies.

These findings will help determine whether any irregularities occurred, after which the EC will decide whether to order a new vote or a recount.

Bhumjaithai, which was shut out in Chon Buri in the 2023 election, won five constituencies there on Sunday, while the People’s Party saw its seat total fall from seven to five.

Mr Suchart, who led a group of 16 defectors from the United Thai Nation party to Bhumjaithai before the election, vowed earlier that his network would make a clean sweep of Chon Buri.

Investigation procedures

Mr Khanchit said polling station officials must check whether the number of voters matches the number of ballots used. If discrepancies arise, they can report the issue.

Once a ballot box is sealed at the end of counting, however, the authority of polling station officials ends; only the full EC can order it reopened, he said.

“Everything depends on the evidence. We will act strictly based on the facts, regardless of which political group is involved,” Mr Khanchit said.

The EC deputy secretary-general said two days is an appropriate timeline, noting that investigators must examine information from all sides and may need to work around the clock. Complaints related to power outages during the process have also been accepted and will be examined. (Story continues below)

Consolidation confusion

Acting Sub Lt Phasakorn also addressed public confusion surrounding the ballot box consolidation process in Chon Buri Constituency 1.

Once vote counting is completed at polling stations, with results posted publicly at each one, the results from all stations are forwarded to the district tally centre, where they are aggregated to determine the constituency’s overall outcome.

Once the results are compiled, “ballot box consolidation” takes place. Ballot boxes that have already been counted are collected from all polling stations and combined into larger sealed boxes for secure storage. These are kept at designated secure locations such as police stations, district offices or other facilities with adequate security measures in place, and retained until the objection period expires, which is about two years.

In Chon Buri, he said, confusion arose during preparations to transport consolidated ballot boxes from Constituency 1 to a secure storage site.

Observers said some boxes were not properly sealed or secured. However, this indicated that officials were still in the process of consolidation, said Acting Sub Lt Phasakorn.

Some boxes that were not strapped had instead been sealed with adhesive tape around the perimeter, preventing unauthorised access, the EC maintains.

As for claims about markings or possible alterations, he said that during consolidation, some polling stations may not have folded summary tally sheets into the ballot boxes.

In such cases, the constituency EC office collects the misplaced documents and places them into secure boxes for storage alongside the ballots.

Acting Sub Lt Phasakorn and insisted that concerns about fraud were unfounded, as every polling station produces an official vote count report that is publicly posted. As such, any claim that results could later be altered is impossible, since the figures are open to verification by all.

Source – Bangkok News