Bangkok: Legal experts from the People's Party have raised concerns over the discovery of 300,000 irregular ballots in the recent election, suggesting potential unfairness and dishonesty in the process. The experts argue that these discrepancies do not reflect the will of the voters and may have resulted from proxy voting.

According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Teera Sutheewarangkoon, a member of the special task force investigating the election vote count and part of the People's Party's legal team, highlighted issues with the re-election process held on February 22nd. He noted that the absence of pink ballot numbers, which were present in the February 8th election, serves as clear evidence of problems. The missing ballot numbers hinder verification, suggesting the February 8th election can be traced back to individual voters, providing crucial evidence for legal action.

Mr. Teera stated that a thorough investigation is needed to determine the cause of the significant difference between the number of voters and the ballots tallied. If the excess ballots are found to be abnormal and linked to the Election Commission (EC) or polling officials, appropriate action will be taken. He emphasized that an unexplainable discrepancy suggests the election was not conducted fairly.

Mr. Thira further explained that while the law does not specify a quota for ballot count discrepancies, a common-sense approach indicates that minor differences could be human error. However, discrepancies in the hundreds or thousands signal unnatural issues. If illegal ballot stuffing occurred, it undermines the voters' will, pointing to manipulation by unknown individuals.

When questioned about the 300,000 discrepancies nationwide, Mr. Thira acknowledged the abnormality compared to previous elections. He suggested that if presented to the Constitutional or Administrative Court, the total discrepancies could indicate a lack of secrecy and fairness in the election. He added that the Election Commission could order a new election if irregular ballots exceed a thousand, though the Commission has been silent on the issue two weeks post-election.

The situation may now escalate to the Constitutional and Administrative Courts. It remains uncertain whether the Election Commission will await court clarification before taking action. If likened to the 2006 election, a new election might be held nationwide rather than district by district.