Lessons learnt from Thailand’s election - Introduction

Thailand parliamentary election was held on 3^rd July 2011 and was won by Phue Thai Party. The situation on E-Day and post election in Thailand was relative quite and calm. It was good, because it was not like people predicted before. Except in some provinces like 3 Deep South provinces namely Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.



Posing after the press conference, Bangkok 5th July, 2011
I was wearing the red shirt.



As a NGO that works on election monitoring in Indonesia,  KIPP Indonesia, short of Komite Independen Pemantau Pemilu or Independent Committee for Election Monitoring, also took a part in that observation mission both as LTO and STO.  LTO or Long Term Observer worked for 40 days and STO or Short Term Observer worked for 12 days.

The mission was organized by ANFREL (Asia Network for Free Election). ANFREL deployed 48 international observers and some election experts from countries across Asia.

There are many interesting issues for comparison the election in Thailand and Indonesia. This article doesn’t always reflect the situation in Thailand nationwide, because the limited time and places I observed. I served as LTO and deployed in 4 provinces of southern Thailand, namely Songkhla, Phatthalung, Satun dan Trang.

Note :

The author is International Election Observer in some countries in Asia, incl. Thailand Parliamentary Election, July 2011. In Indonesia, I am Head of Foreign Affairs Department, member of KIPP Indonesia since 1998.  

This article was also published in The Global Review.