EC ready for poll despite many fraud complaints

The Election Commission (EC) has affirmed that it is ready for the general election on Sunday despite almost 100 complaints of electoral fraud being lodged so far.

Pol Col Jarungvith Phumma, secretary-general of the EC, said election-related materials had been delivered to polling stations and the agency's officials confirmed that all the constituencies are ready for the elections. Officials are scheduled to run another check today, he said.

He said he could confirm there will be no ballot papers from different constituencies or fake papers at polling stations. Ballot colours vary according to constituencies with serial numbers attached, he noted.

Pol Col Jarungvith said voters can check the names of MP candidates on boards in front of polling stations as some of them may have had their candidacy withdrawn ahead of the poll.

He said he was aware that a police complaint had been filed against a political party for vote-buying in Soeng Sang district of Nakhon Ratchasima. This is a criminal offence and the provincial EC office will have to report the case to the EC.

"At this stage, we have received 95 complaints about electoral fraud," said Pol Col Jarungvith.

Meanwhile, EC member Lertviroj Kowattana and Thailand Post senior executive vice president Manop Sornviboonsak yesterday jointly held an event to send off postal trucks to transport advance voting ballots to 350 constituencies across the country.

These advance voting ballots will be counted along with other ballots cast tomorrow at polling stations. According to officials, the GPS-equipped vehicles would be accompanied by police cars along their route. Mr Manop said there is no need to worry about any mishaps during transportation. Ballot bags have serial numbers that must match those attached to the bag straps.

Meanwhile, a source who has knowledge about transporting the ballots said eight of the 15 trucks being used to carry more than 2 million advance voting papers had their GPS signal turned off along the way.

It was explained later that some drivers turned off their engines when arriving at their destinations while other vehicles passed through areas where signal coverage was not good, the source said.