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Most of the vote-buying reports received by the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday were reported in Bangkok, which has the most constituencies out of all provinces, the poll body said.

However, the number of poll-related violations was lower than in past polls, it said.

EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said the commission received 163 complaints on Sunday, 58 of which were about vote-buying, 55 about fraud, while 17 were about abuse of power by state officials supervising the polls.

Incidents of vote-buying were reported across many regions, though the majority were reported in Bangkok, he said.

According to national police chief, Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, over 150,000 officers were deployed to maintain peace and order across 94,737 polling stations across the country.

In the past 2-3 days, at least three people have been charged over vote-buying. Police officers are also investigating vandalism of campaign banners, he said.

Deputy national police chief and head of the Royal Thai Police’s election administrative centre, Pol Gen Roy Inkapairoj, said most complaints received by the centre were about the destruction of campaign banners.

According to Pol Lt Gen Nithithorn Chintakanon, the centre’s spokesman, over 1,000 candidates’ banners were vandalised during the campaign period.

On Saturday night, there was a spike in vote-buying complaints in Kanchanaburi, while in Ayutthaya, local police have enough evidence to charge several individuals on vote-buying charges.

Meanwhile, former politician and whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit said that in Ayutthaya, Chon Buri, Pathum Thani, Songkhla and Yala, at least 100 people handed out 500 baht each to local villagers to buy their votes. It is unclear what kind of evidence he has to back his claims.

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The daughter of Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said the biggest vote-winner in Sunday’s election will get to lead the next government, after her Pheu Thai Party took a big lead alongside the progressive opposition Move Forward Party.

Speaking after 50% of eligible votes had been counted, Paetongtarn “Ung Ing” Shinawatra, a prime ministerial candidate for Pheu Thai, also said she was happy for Move Forward. 

“The voice of the people is most important,” she told reporters. 

Ms Paetongtarn urged supporters to be patient, expressing “very high confidence in our victory.”

Srettha Thavisin, another nominee for premier, said Pheu Thai “will prioritise talks with pro-democratic parties.” His group has yet to speak with Move Forward, Mr Srettha said.

Pro-democracy parties widened their lead in Sunday’s general election, with the preliminary count showing them on course to wrest power from a military-backed government that has ruled for almost a decade.

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Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha will remain in politics and his United Thai Nation Party (UTN) will respect established norms about the formation of the new government, according to the party leader.

UTN, which has Gen Prayut as its prime ministerial candidate, will respect political tradition when it comes to the handover of power to the next government, its leader Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said on Sunday night.

“We will not be unorthodox on the matter,” he said, apparently referring to the tradition that the political party that wins the most House seats has the right to form the new government.

“We have done our best during the time we have had,” Mr Pirapan said. UTN was founded two years ago.

Asked if Gen Prayut, the present prime minister, would remain in politics and with UTN, Mr Pirapan said Gen Prayut would stay on as the chief strategist of the party.

Separately, Gen Prayut spoke briefly to reporters at UTN headquarters.

He simply thanked all the voters who supported him and his party, and said he had done the best he could to work in the national interest and support development. He respected democracy, he said.

Gen Prayut did not comment when asked about the Pheu Thai Party’s chance of forming a new government, or the possibility that a minority government could result from the votes of the 250 senators.

He then waded through an army of reporters and departed.

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Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, in his capacity as the leader of the Palang Pracharath Party, declined to answer when asked about the surprising popularity of the Move Forward Party in Sunday’s general election.

Gen Prawit arrived at his party’s headquarters at about 9pm on Sunday. He smiled and patted the shoulders of the key party figures who welcomed him before stepping onto a podium to speak to reporters.

He thanked reporters and all the voters who supported his party. He said he was grateful for their support regardless of the election results.

“Other topics will be discussed later. It’s not the time yet. We must wait longer because vote counting has not finished,” Gen Prawit said.

Asked to comment on the possibility of a great victory for the Move Forward Party, Gen Prawit said nothing.

He also remained silent when reporters asked if he was disheartened.

He left the podium quickly, ending his press conference after about a minute.

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Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, in his capacity as the leader of the Palang Pracharath Party, declined to answer when asked about the surprising popularity of the Move Forward Party in Sunday’s general election.

Gen Prawit arrived at his party’s headquarters at about 9pm on Sunday. He smiled and patted the shoulders of the key party figures who welcomed him before stepping onto a podium to speak to reporters.

He thanked reporters and all the voters who supported his party. He said he was grateful for their support regardless of the election results.

“Other topics will be discussed later. It’s not the time yet. We must wait longer because vote counting has not finished,” Gen Prawit said.

Asked to comment on the possibility of a great victory for the Move Forward Party, Gen Prawit said nothing.

He also remained silent when reporters asked if he was disheartened.

He left the podium quickly, ending his press conference after about a minute.

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BURI RAM: Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, in his capacity as the leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, said his party was likely to come in third in the race for House seats despite his stated hope for second place.

Speaking to reporters in the northeastern province, Mr Anutin said, “Earlier I thought Bhumjaithai would be in second position, but it is in third. I congratulate the leading parties, namely Move Forward and Pheu Thai.”

Mr Anutin said his party was likely to win more House seats and triumph in some provinces for the first time in Sunday’s general election. The party had hoped to represent a Bangkok constituency but that wish would not come true in this election, he said.

Mr Anutin did not divulge his thoughts about Bhumjaithai’s possible involvement in the formation of a new government, or whether his party would maintain its partnership with parties in the previous government.

He said he would rather wait for clearer results from the election.

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Bangkok voters flocked to polling stations during Sunday’s general election, with turnout exceeding that of the last election in 2019.

More than 72% of eligible voters in Bangkok cast their ballots on Sunday, said City Clerk Khajit Chatchavanit as he inspected polling stations in constituencies 1, 2 and 3 in Phra Nakhon district after voting ended at 5pm. 

Mr Khajit said unofficial results of the vote would be known at about 10pm after all 33 constituencies sent their results to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s coordinating centre. 

He thanked more than 100,000 BMA officials and staff for starting to perform their tasks at polling stations at 4am, and said everything had gone smoothly. He also thanked police for making it safe and convenient for people to exercise their right to vote.

The overall situation at Bangkok’s polling station was smooth, the City Clerk said. Out of 6,327 polling stations, only two polling stations in Huai Kwang and Min Buri districts had problems.

In Huai Kwang. there was an incident of a poll official tearing ballot papers. The case had been reported to Bangkok’s election committee and the Election Commission to decide.

In Min Buri, ballot papers were initially put in one ballot box, but were later put in two separate boxes for counting. If the number of ballot papers matched the number of voters, there would be no problem, said Mr Khajit.

Eligible voters who failed to cast their ballots with must give their reasons within May 21 by submitting letters with their ID numbers to district registrars, sending such letters by registered mail or explaining their reasons via the “Smart Vote’’ application or via the website.

If they failed to give reasons for not casting their ballots for the advance voting or for Sunday’s general election, they would lose certain priveleges such as the right to oppose the general election; the right to contest the general election, local-level or senate elections; and the right to run for sub-district chief, kamnan or phuyai ban (village chief).

Valid reasons for failing to vote include having to travel to remote areas, being unable to travel to polling stations due to sickness, disability or old age, being abroad, living more than 100km from their polling station or being assigned by a state agency to perform a task outside their constituency. 

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The Office of the Election Commission has invited members of the public to observe the live vote-counting process on the website www.ectreport.com.

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If you are unable to vote in the upcoming elections, you have three ways to report your inability:

1. Notify your local or district registrar.

2. Send a letter, which you can do by downloading a form from the Election Commission of Thailand’s website, and either send it yourself, have someone else submit it, or mail it.

3. Report through the stat.bora.dopa.go.th website or the Smart Vote app.

Remember, you can report your inability to vote from May 7th-13th, and May 15th-21st.

If you do not vote without providing a reason, you will face penalties for two years. These include being unable to apply for certain elected positions such as a Member of the House of Representatives, Senator, or village headman, as well as being unable to hold certain political civil servant positions.

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The 2023 General Election of Members of the House of Representatives: Vote Counting and Result Announcement Process

1) Polling Places consist of regular polling places, advance voting polling places in the constituencies, out of the constituencies, overseas voting and polling places for the disabled, or handicapped or the elderly (only in 21 provinces). 

2) Regular Polling Places (Sunday 14th May 2023) 

Counting starts right after 17.00 hrs without delay at such polling places.  

Vote counting results will be announced, as soon as the count is finished,  in the form of Sor.Sor. 5/18 (ส.ส. 5/18) which include the following details:   

• Number of eligible voters 
• Number of ballots received 
• Number of persons present to exercise the right to vote 
• Number of used ballots 
• Votes received by each candidate 
• Votes received by each party 
• Number of valid ballots 
• Number of invalid ballots 
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing anyone” box
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing any party” box
• Number of remaining ballot papers

3) Advance voting polling places: voting in the constituencies and polling places for the disabled, handicapped or the elderly (May 7, 2023) 

Votes will be counted on the same day as the regular polling places,on Sunday (May 14).

Counting starts right after 17.00 hrs (without delay) at the place designated by the Constituency’s Election Committee (at the Administrative Center of such constituency).

Vote counting results will be announced in the form of Sor.Sor. 5/16 (ส.ส. 5/16) which include the following details:

• Number of ballots received
• Votes received by each candidate 
• Votes received by each party 
• Number of valid ballots 
• Number of invalid ballots
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing anyone” box
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing any party” box 
• Number of remaining ballot papers

4) Advance voting polling places: voting out of the constituencies, overseas voting and voting places for the disabled, handicapped or the elderly (Sunday 7th March, for overseas voting, on the date set by the Ambassadors.) 

Votes will be counted on the same day as the regular polling places,on Sunday (May 14).

Counting starts right after 17.00 hrs (without delay) at the place designated by the Constituency’s Election Committee (at the Administrative Center of such constituency or other places if there are large numbers of registered voters)

Vote counting results will be announced in the form of Sor.Sor. 5/17 (ส.ส. 5/17) which include the following details:

• Number of ballots received
• Votes received by each candidate 
• Votes received by each party 
• Number of valid ballots 
• Number of invalid ballots
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing anyone” box
• Number of ballots marked in the “not electing any party” box 
• Number of remaining ballot papers

5) The Constituency’s Election Committee gathers vote counting results of the candidates in the constituency basis in 2, 3 and 4 at the Administrative Center of such constituency. When the vote aggregation is finished, the results will be announced immediately in descending order. The candidate who obtains the highest number of votes, provided it is higher than the number of votes cast for not electing anyone, shall be elected. The aggregated results will be displayed on a large billboard at the Administrative Center of such constituency.

6) The Constituency’s Election Committee gathers vote counting results of the candidates in the party-list system in Nos 2, 3 and 4 at the Administrative Center of such constituency. When the votes aggregation is finished, the results will be immediately announced in consecutive order of the party list. The said results will then be forwarded to the Office of the Election Commission, where the results from all 400 constituencies will be aggregated and the proportion of elected candidates of the party list calculated. The aggregated results of each constituency will be displayed on a large billboard at the Administrative Center.

7) Aggregated results of Nos 5 and 6 are expected to be publicly released around 18.30 hrs. 

The process of aggregation will proceed continuously. It is estimated that the final results will be known by 23.00 hrs on Sunday (May 14).

8) Security of Documents: an announcement of vote counting results of each polling station 

Vote counting results form shall be made in 3 copies. The first copy will be used for vote aggregation. The second copy will be posted in front of polling places for the benefit of the public. 

The third copy will be stored in the ballot boxes along with used ballots (ballot casts) and the tally mark form. Only the Election Commission has the power to decide on the opening of the ballot box.

9) Transparency of Documents: an announcement of vote counting results

The results announcement will be posted in front of each polling place and each vote counting place.

The said announcement will also be posted on all Provincial and Bangkok Election Commission Office websites within 5 days from the election date.

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Process leading up to the announcement of vote counting results and election personnel involved:

The vote count will proceed over the following five stages: 

1) The Polling Station Committees of regular polling stations and Vote Counting Committees of advance voting – both inside and outside each constituency – and polling stations for the disabled, handicapped and elderly.

2) The District Sub-Committees in 76 provinces and the Sub-Committee of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

3) The Constituency Election Committee in each of the 400 constituencies. 

4) The Provincial and Bangkok Offices of the Election Commission with the Director of the Provincial and Bangkok Office as head.

5) The Office of the Election Commission with the Secretary-General as head.

Election Results Announcement

The Election Commission will examine and make an announcement on the election results expeditiously. The announcement must be made not later than 60 days from the election date.

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