iLaw urges rapid release of polling station vote data

2026-02-09 - 04:16

BANGKOK — 9 February 2569, Election watchdog group iLaw urged Thailand’s Election Commission to promptly publish polling station-level vote results in every province, saying the country is in a climate of public doubt over vote counting and aggregation. In a statement posted on Facebook, iLaw cited Election Commission regulations on the election of members of parliament issued in 2566, which state that constituency election committees must compile vote counts from all polling stations using official tally documents known as Form Sor.Sor.5/18 and Sor.Sor.5/18 (party-list). Under the final provision of the 2566 regulation, provincial election directors were required to publish these documents on the websites of provincial Election Commission offices within five days of election day. After the 2566 general election, every province made polling station results publicly available, often releasing photographed summary documents from all polling stations through shared online platforms such as Google Drive. However, iLaw said that ahead of the 2569 election, the Election Commission amended Regulation 214, changing the requirement from publication within five days to publication “as soon as possible,” without specifying a deadline. iLaw argued that given the current political atmosphere, in which many citizens question the accuracy of vote counting and consolidation, provincial Election Commission offices should release the documents as quickly as possible, without waiting several days. If the documents have already been compiled, iLaw said they should be published within one to two days after the election. The 2566 Election Commission regulation can be viewed at: https://www.ect.go.th/.../2919bc2392e15868d3aebad21538260... The amended regulation issued in 2568 can be viewed at: https://www.ect.go.th/.../m_laws_file_2056...