Commissioners went overseas to ensure ‘no ballots are lost’
Several officials from Election Commission (EC) and Foreign Ministry have gone overseas to ensure the mistakes made during the 2019 election are not repeated, the ministry said on Friday.
The statement came in rebuttal to criticism that six election commissioners had left the country at a time when they should be here addressing urgent issues regarding the May 14 election.
Social media has been buzzing with comments about how these trips are “unnecessary”, “inappropriate” and a “waste of money”.
Kanchana Patarachoke, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said officials who travelled to Australia and New Zealand were on a mission to inspect the system of transporting ballots back to Thailand. They were tasked with ensuring the delivery of ballots is not delayed, as had happened in the 2019 election.
Officials visiting South Africa, Kenya and Morocco were on a similar mission as Africa is a large continent where comprehensive transport is not available in all areas. The officials are also looking for ways to solve the issue of there not being any direct flights from South Africa to Thailand, Kanchana said.
As for Europe and the United States, officials are checking the locations for polling stations as well as visiting Thai communities to find out what obstacles they may face when casting votes. Both continents have a large number of Thai nationals, she said.
The officials are also putting in place a system of sending ballots back to Thailand in areas that are not serviced by Thai Airways or where the postal service is unreliable, she added.
Kanchana said the EC and Foreign Ministry officials were also inspecting the preparation of OVMS (Overseas Voting Monitoring System) to monitor voting at all embassies and consulate offices.
The OVMS can process voting results in real-time and help ensure the voting process outside Thailand is completed on schedule.
Kanchana also said the ministry and EC are considering setting up an i-Vote system to allow voters to register and cast their ballot online during the next election. This will be in line with the policy to push Thailand towards a fully functional e-government.
“Created with the use of blockchain technology, i-Vote will help Thais living overseas to register and cast their votes conveniently, saving both time and travelling expenses,” she said. “Some countries in the Asean region and Europe have already adopted this system to improve their voting process.”
