Natthaphong Warns of Voter Data Leak, calls for fresh election

2026-02-15 - 07:16

BANGKOK — 15 February 2026, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, leader of Thailand’s People’s Party, said on 15 February that voter data and ranked lists of eligible voters may already have been leaked to the public, raising concerns over the secrecy of the recent election. He said a white-hat hacker on 14 February identified vulnerabilities in a government agency’s system, prompting authorities to fix the flaw later that night. However, Natthaphong said he believed that before the fix, data on voters and ranked lists of eligible voters at each polling station, which could be combined to determine how individuals cast their ballots, had already been disclosed to the public or malicious actors. He added that images of ballot papers bearing barcodes at the bottom had circulated online. When election observers photographed polling station officials holding up ballots, both the barcode and the marked choice were visible, he said. “If even a single case emerges in which a ballot stub containing a sequence number can be matched with a barcode and a photographed ballot from the same polling station, the three pieces of information could be combined to identify how a particular person voted,” Natthaphong said. “That would prove the Election Commission’s claim that even if barcodes can be traced back to ballot stubs, the process remains direct and secret is not true.” He said the election process involved numerous parties, including polling station officials, members of the media and public observers, increasing the risk of exposure. “Two out of the three key data components are already public. If just one case is found, it will demonstrate that the process is neither direct nor secret,” he said. Asked whether this would amount to electoral fraud, Natthaphong said criminal proceedings would depend on proving intent by state officials. “What can already be established is that this is a mistake,” he said, whether caused by negligence or by deliberate design of a system capable of tracing how individuals voted. He argued that the Election Commission’s justification that barcodes were necessary to verify the authenticity of ballots and prevent fraudulent or “ghost” ballots was flawed. It would have been sufficient for barcodes to identify only the ballot booklet number, rather than individual ballot papers, he said. Natthaphong said the People’s Party had filed complaints with the ombudsman and lodged criminal charges under Sections 157 and 172 of the Criminal Code. Others had also petitioned the ombudsman and the Central Administrative Court, he added. He urged the Election Commission to acknowledge the error and act swiftly. “The public wants to see urgent corrective action, not delays while waiting for a court order, which could take a long time,” he said. The longer the delay, the greater the risk, including the possibility that officials with access to ballot boxes could retrieve sensitive data. He called on the commission to order the destruction of the ballot papers as soon as possible and organise a new election without delay.