A vote recount in constituency 1 of Nakhon Pathom has changed the results from the March 24 election as a Future Forward Party (FFP) candidate won the race, trailed by the candidate from the Democrat Party.
The outcome of the recount showed FFP contestant and first-time contender Sawika Limpasuwanna won by a razor-thin margin. She won 35,707 votes or only 62 ballots more than Democrat candidate Sinthop Kaeophichit, an Election Commission (EC) official said on Sunday night.
The unofficial results will be announced on Monday, he added.
Ms Sawika thanked all supporters after the EC confirmed the unofficial outcome.
The recount at all 245 polling stations in the constituency was conducted at Silpakorn University on Sunday. A 30-second blackout was also reported at the venue while ballots were being counted.
According to March 24 election count, Lt Col Sinthop won with 35,762 votes, 147 more than Ms Sawika who polled 35,615.
The recount came after Ms Sawika lodged a complaint with the EC against the results.
She said she had rechecked counted vote information from every polling station herself, and found she should have outpaced the candidate from the Democrat Party by four points.
Meanwhile, the FFP sent 250 witnesses to monitor the recount at the university, according to party leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
He said the party also wants the EC to recount the votes in constituency 2 of Nakhon Pathom since the number of voters who showed up did not match the number of marked ballots.
The party also asked the EC to conduct a rerun in constituency 4 of this Central Plains province amid claims of vote buying being probed by police, he said. Mr Thanathorn vowed to force the EC to reveal all ballot counts at each station by using the Official Information Act.
Jarungwit Phumma, secretary-general of the EC, said while the recount was different from that on March 24, this was not abnormal since the consideration of the validity of the ballots depends on the discretion of staff at the polling stations.
About 400 complaints about the March 24 elections are being considered. He said if the complaints carry weight, the EC would authorise its panel to investigate. Meanwhile, a re-run of the election in Constituency 8 of Chiang Mai is likely to be organised next month.