Make senatorial election more transparent, civil network asks
Civil network Senate67 proposes suggestions to the Election Commission to ensure transparency during the next two rounds of the senatorial election
A civil network by the name “Senate67” held a press event on Tuesday to propose measures and suggestions to the Election Commission (EC) to ensure that the next round of the senatorial election is transparent and verifiable by the public.
The network, which is made up of several political and election watchdog groups, including We Watch and Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw), discussed the result of the district-level voting held on Sunday (June 9).
To select the new 200-member Senate, some 45,000 incumbents voted among themselves to select winners to proceed to the provincial level on June 16 and at the national level on June 26.
A representative from We Watch said that before the voting on June 9, a total of 223 cases had been filed with the Administrative Court by candidates who were disqualified by the EC, but only 38 cases had won their appeal.
“The EC only allows 3 days for disqualified candidates to file an appeal, resulting in many being unable to protect their rights due to the appeals process being lengthy and complicated,” he said.
He added that EC also stipulates that complaints filed after voting must be accompanied by concrete evidence, which is hard to achieve since the voting was done in a location where communication devices are not allowed.
We Watch members also complained that EC officials at voting locations did not fully cooperate with the observers, adding that they were followed while observing the voting on Sunday by police officers, who also took their photos.
iLaw’s Yingcheep Atchanont suggested that EC prepares more officials and equipment for vote counting in the next rounds, to prevent the problem of counting running to past midnight.
He added that voting stations should have specific areas for observers so they can monitor the process closely and unobstructed.
Furthermore, CCTV surveillance should be allowed to ensure transparency and public safety, he said.
The EC announced on Monday that from a total of 45,753 eligible incumbents, 23,645 have passed the district-level voting on Sunday. Of them, 15,077 are males and 8,568 are females.
