Reporting the result

Thailand used the manual way to report the election result and it worked well, effective and efficiently. First, after the counting in the polling centers, they used Handy Talkie to report informally the result of election to each district office. The reports and all the material equipment sent to the district zone at the same day, except the polling sites in the small islands.



Counting of ballot paper. Location : Pattalung, Electoral Zone 1. Only 5 candidates of 5 parties out of 40 parties competed here



And from the district offices, the reports went to the electoral zone or constituency offices. After they got the reports from each respective electoral zone offices, the provincial ECT can make a final result only 1-2 days after the election.

Reporting the counting result with handy talkie is informal way. The written reports are still needed to eliminate the mistakes. The counting reports were done using Excel program. The result was very complete and so quick. It included the number of voters (men and women), turn out, valid and invalid ballot papers, vote NO voters, and percentage of each category. I got the email from ECT Songkhla in the evening, one day after election 4^th July. And ECT Trang finished the counting on Tuesday dawn 5^th July. And the Prime Minister was elected and inaugurated in August, 1 month earlier than the schedule. Because there is no complaint and disputes on election results among the parties.

Compared with Indonesian 2009 election both legislative and presidential that used the computerized and sophisticated system for counting, with the expensive budget but the results were got just after 1 month. And there were still many disputes on seats among candidates and parties that should be solved by the Supreme Court.

Note :

1. The author of this article is the International Election Observer in some countries in Asia, include Thailand Parliamentary Election, 3rd July 2011, acted as Long Term Observer.
2. She is the Head of Foreign Affairs in KIPP Indonesia (Komite Independen Pemantau Pemilu) or Independent Committee for Election Monitoring. Member of KIPP Indonesia since 1998.   
3. This article is also published in The Global Review.