Unofficial poll results delayed again

Election Commission secretary-general Jarungwit Phumma and his deputy, Nat Laosisawakul, hold a press conference on Monday to announce the decision to delay the poll results. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Election Commission secretary-general Jarungwit Phumma and his deputy, Nat Laosisawakul, hold a press conference on Monday to announce the decision to delay the poll results. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)

Late on Monday afternoon, the Election Commission (EC) said with 95% of the vote counted, its latest unofficial figures gave Pheu Thai 137 constituency seats and Palang Pracharat 79, followed by Bhumjaithai with 39, the Democrats with 33 and Future Forward with 30. 150 seats were yet to be decided.

Earlier, Secretary-general Ittiporn Boonprakong said the EC would announce the unofficial results of 350 constituency seats later on Monday, but unofficial full vote counts -- which are needed to determine the allocation of 150 other seats in parliament -- would not be available until Friday. He reiterated that official results from at least 95% of House seats would not be finalised until May 9.

On Sunday night, the EC delayed without explanation a full announcement of preliminary results as a large number of complaints mounted over apparent mistakes in the count and possible irregularities at the polls.

Nearly 1.9 million votes had been invalidated with 93% of votes counted, the EC said late Sunday. Earlier counts showed that in a handful of provinces more than half the ballots cast were invalidated.

The Election Commission has said it will finalise the results by May 9.

But questions over the count have been asked, with social media ablaze with allegations of vote buying, mass invalidation of electoral cards and bungling by polling staff across the country.

About 400,000 people signed a change.org petition to dissolve the commission.

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Vocabulary

  • allegations (noun): accusations - ข้อกล่าวหา
  • allocation: an amount of or share of something, in this case, the national budget - การแบ่งส่วน
  • ballot: the piece of paper on which someone marks who they are voting for - บัตรเลือกตั้ง
  • bungle: to do something in a careless or stupid way - ผิดพลาด
  • commission: an official group of people who have been given responsibility to control something, or to find out about something, usually for the government - คณะกรรมการ, คณะกรรมาธิการ
  • constituency: a district that elects its own representative to parliament - เขตเลือกตั้ง
  • determine: to decide what will be done or happen - กำหนด
  • dissolve (verb): to officially end a group, a marriage, business agreement, etc. - ยุติ,สิ้นสุด, ยุบ
  • finalise: to complete the last part of a plan, trip, project, etc - ทำให้เสร็จสมบูรณ์
  • invalidate: to make something no longer legally effective -
  • irregularity: a situation in which the rules, laws, or usual ways of doing things have not been followed - การปฏิบัติที่ไม่เป็นไปตามระเบียบปกติ
  • parliament: the group of people who are elected to make and change the laws of a country; the building where members of parliament meet. - รัฐสภา
  • preliminary: early; not final - ขั้นต้น, ขั้นแรก, เบื้องต้น, ชั้นต้น
  • reiterate: to repeat something in order to emphasise it - พูดซ้ำ ย้ำ
  • seat: a position in a committee, group or organization -
  • unofficial: not formally approved by anyone in authority - ไม่เป็นทางการ

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