Election results reporting to be aided by media alliance
Thai media outlets have teamed up to form an alliance that will provide live reporting of unofficial election results during the country’s upcoming General Election. This move was prompted by the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to use a non-real-time official reporting format, which sparked concerns about transparency and fairness.
Rather than piecemeal independent reporting from various polling stations, The Association of Digital Television Broadcasting (Thailand) formed a collaboration with 50 agencies. This will bring unofficial election data live from polling stations around the country to one central source, giving more accurate forecasts on the day of the election.
This alliance hopes to allow for the fastest unofficial election results to be tabulated and released to the public since the EC is adopting a non-real-time reporting system this year. That decision has come under fire as it may be less transparent and open to manipulation than real-time reporting.
Working together, the association believes they can report the final, unofficial results from all polling stations across the country by 9pm. The EC has a target time for election results of 11pm, giving the media a two-hour advantage.
The campaign director and advisor to the association believe that the leading candidate at each constituent should be called by 9pm. However, Member of Parliament voting results may be calculated as early as 7pm.
To achieve these goals, the association is fundraising. They are soliciting donations on the website D-Vote.com/TheWatcher. The campaign hopes to raise 12 million baht to fund the attempt at bringing more transparency to the election.
They will use funds to post 100,000 volunteers to every one of Thailand’s 95,000 polling stations in order to report on unofficial results from around the country quickly. The media group is now gathering more help from civic volunteers and political party members from all affiliations.
Once they’ve recruited enough volunteers, polling data can be gathered at each station and sent to Sripatum University in Bangkok, where the association is setting up its headquarters. From there, results will be sent out to all TV stations and online news sites.
The alliance hopes to provide more comprehensive and transparent coverage of the election results, ensuring that the public can access accurate and up-to-date information.
