Ballot bafflement: Thai EC orders recounts in 47 polling stations after votes outnumber registered voters

The Election Commission (EC) of Thailand announced plans to conduct vote recounts in 47 polling stations across Thailand on June 11 as the number of ballots cast exceeded the number of registered voters.

During a meeting held yesterday, the EC disclosed that out of the 95,000 polling stations nationwide, 31 stations will have their votes recounted for the party-list candidates, while 16 stations will undergo a recount for the Member of Parliament (MP) candidates.

The EC revealed the recount is because the number of ballots exceeded the number of voters in each polling station. The EC is concerned this could potentially impact the allocation of MP positions for each political party, as well as influence the overall score of the future prime minister.

According to ThaiRat, the EC has not yet disclosed the specific polling stations that will be subject to a recount. However, they assured that the recounting process will be conducted as quickly as possible because they plan to officially announce the election result this month.

This news has stirred up tensions on Thai social media. A lot of Thai netizens flooded the official Facebook page of the EC with vulgarities and complaints to pressure the EC to announce the official election result until the EC turned off the comment section on the page.

The unofficial election result revealed the Move Forward Party (MFP), and its leader, Pita Limcharoenrat, emerged as the party with the highest number of votes across the country. The MFP and another eight parties, which intend to form a coalition government, have already signed a Memorandum of Understanding to align their objectives.

However, the MFP leader, Pita, is being scrutinised as a future Thai prime minister as he holds shares in the Thai broadcaster, itv. The latest update on the issue reported that Pita transferred his shares to relatives to prevent any obstacles on his path to becoming PM.

Nevertheless, the issue is far from resolved. The complaint against Pita’s qualification has been filed with the EC and they are currently deliberating on whether to proceed with a further investigation.