On Sunday the 24th of March, the people of Thailand headed to the polls to cast their vote for members of a new government for the first time in 8 years. Following the junta’s decision to lift the ban on political activities in the country and hold the election, Thai citizens across the state have been able to perform the civic duty in an historic feat. However, some observers have expressed worry over the electoral process, casting doubt on the results seen so far.
Former Thailand Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has noted irregularities in last weekend’s vote, stating that the irregularities ‘worried’ him. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Shinawatra said there were “a lot of irregularities which made me worried to see the country’s politics and electoral system so backward.”
Corroborating Mr Shinawatra’s suspicions, the Asian Network for Free Elections has said that the elections failed to meet international standards. According to The Guardian, “International independent observers have declared that the process of counting the votes in Thailand’s election lacked transparency and was “deeply flawed”, adding to a climate of mistrust and uncertainty in the country.
The election commission delayed declaring the official election results three times without a full explanation, and they are now not expected until 9 May. The 45-day delay, the first time this has happened after a Thai election, has led to allegations of foul play, cheating and ineptitude on the part of the military and the election commission.”
Concerning the election and announcement of results, Aljazeera reports: “The outcome of the election remains shrouded in doubt with unofficial results delayed until at least Friday and allegations of vote-buying and irregularities in the counting of ballots.”
Presently, confusion is at an all time high concerning the parliamentary vote, as 95% of the vote has been counted but the electoral commission is still holding on to the May 9 date to announce the results. CNN published that “on Monday, it appeared the pro-military party Palang Pracharat was neck and neck with the main opposition Pheu Thai Party, which is aligned with ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. With 95% of the vote counted, Pheu Thai won 137 out of 350 seats, the Election Commission said Monday. The pro-military party Palang Pracharat took 97 seats.”
This was enough for the Pheu-Thai to announce victory and put out a call for any third party against military rule to form a coalition with them. “”We have been chosen to come in number one (in constituency lawmakers) therefore we will start to form a government as we have received consensus from people,” Suradat Keyurapan, a prime ministerial candidate for Pheu Thai said Monday.”
Today, seven Thai parties have announced the formation of a “democratic front,” claiming that they have the right to try and form a government in spite of the disputed election and demanding that the military government stand down.
According to Aljazeera, “…questions are now swirling over election irregularities with an election monitor saying the tabulation was “deeply flawed”.
Nearly two million invalidated ballots, weak polling oversight, and bungling by election authorities may have wildly skewed initial numbers.”
