An international election monitoring group says Thailand's general election voting process was "much improved" compared with the last ballot the country held in 2019.
On Sunday, millions of Thais voted in a general election to choose which political party and prime minister they want to lead the next government. Thailand's opposition parties gained big, with the progressive Move Forward Party winning the most seats.
The Asian Networks for Free Elections (ANFREL), an independent election monitoring organization based in Bangkok, held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club Thailand on Wednesday, noting how Thailand's election transparency has improved.
Rohana Hettiarachchi, the head of mission for ANFREL, said the elections took place peacefully.
"I would like to congratulate the citizens of Thailand that large participation of the 2023 general elections, the turnout was quite high, somewhere around 75 [percent]. I would also like to congratulate the ECT – Election Commission of Thailand – because they have organized the elections in orderly and peacefully, and largely acceptable."
Over 39 million Thai people voted in the general election and a record turnout exceeded 75%, according to reports. Polls opened Sunday at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Sunday, as people battled hot temperatures and some heavy rain throughout the country to cast their votes.
Thai citizens voted on two ballots, choosing 400 constituency and 100 party-list members of parliament to elect Thailand's 500-member House of Representatives.
"Compared to the last elections they managed to bring an immediate result in the same day or within 48 hours. We have seen the counting process was open. Everyone, most of the places that have voted, it was open and transparent, largely open for public. Voting, advanced voting and election day were orderly … they were organized properly and most of the places we have seen that voters' attention was quite high," Hettiarachchi added.
ANFREL deployed dozens of its international observers across 460 polling stations on election day, in addition to monitoring Thailand's election campaign period and advanced voting day on May 7. The group's mission is to improve the electoral process and advance democracy in Thailand.
Despite the improvement, a report issued by ANFREL included ways the transparency of the election process could be better. The monitoring group has asked Thailand's parliament to introduce legal guarantees for all stakeholders – political parties, media and election observers – to witness every step of the electoral process.
"We highly appreciate the counting process that takes place at the polling stations, although the polling stations counting is just one part of the process. There are calculation places, that have to be open for at least the political party, and the observers. But there are certain data that was not publicized, all related to elections has to be open and the data should be available," Hettiarachchi said.
Amael Vier, a senior program officer at ANFREL, added the group has made several recommendations to improve the election process.
"The counting is done at the polling station and then you need to tally the results from all different polling stations in order to write your constituency level results. That part is not open in Thailand, at the moment, political parties, observers and media still don't have access to this process."
ANFREL had slammed the process of Thailand's 2019 general elections, calling them "deeply flawed" over the counting of ballots at the national level, delays in results and vote buying.
Progress aside, Hettiarachchi did raise concerns over possible vote buying.
"Vote buying, is a culture in our Asian contests, if you go to Philippines, Sri Lanka – it's happening. But we have to work together to prevent such a situation. It is happening all across Asia, so we need to find a way of how we are going prevent such situations," Hettiarachchi said.
Vote buying is a form of electoral fraud when candidate MPs offer money or goods to voters with the expectation of the voter voting in their favor.
Thailand's electoral commission implemented a mechanism to prevent such electoral fraud, offering monetary rewards to anyone who could provide evidence of those who might be vote buying.
But the ANFREL report says a lack of evidence prevented people from reporting vote buying. Fears for their own safety also hindered that effort. Despite vote buying being illegal in Thailand, and carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and heavy fines, the risk of punishment doesn't seem to stop the phenomenon, according to reports.
Preliminary election results show the Move Forward Party obtained the most seats with 152, beating fellow opposition party and pre-election favorite Pheu Thai. Both parties defeated military and royal-backed rivals, signaling a wish for change in Thailand's governance. But to win and lead the next government outright, candidates need at least a majority of 376 votes.
Thailand's parliament also consists of a 250-member military-appointed senate, and its influence is crucial to deciding who will lead the next government. Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat has since proposed a coalition with five other political parties, and if agreed to, the alliance would hold 310 seats in government.
But the decision would still lie with the senate over whether they will back this coalition. Thailand's electoral commission has up to 60 days to confirm the election results.
