The Real Thai Election Ballot

There are 500 seats in Parliament up for grabs in Thailand's upcoming election; 375 single constituency seats and 125 party list seats. The constituency seats are awarded to the winners of the most votes in each constituency. The 125 party list seats are divided up between the candidates of the parties based upon the percentages of party votes. This is what the actual ballot looks like for the upcoming election of party list candidates in Thailand

Positions were drawn by lottery last month and one can see why it is best to be number 1 or at least in the single digits on the list. These numbers are easy for voters to recognize and remember.

Of course Pheu Thai is at the number 1 spot and the Democrats are at number 10. The other major parties' numbers are Chat Pattana Puea Pandin at number 2 and outspoken politician Chuwit Kamolvisit's Rak Prathet Thai is at number 5. The Bhum Jai Thai Party is number 16 and the Chart Thai Pattana Party is number 21.


Update: a fellow blogger points out something fishy about the ballot!

Why did the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) make the logo for Pheu Thai so much smaller than the other party logos?

Voters must make an “X” mark in the box behind the party’s name in order for their vote to count. However, since Pheu Thai’s logo is really very small some voters (especially the elderly) may not see the logo and get confused and mistakenly mark an “X” in the box right behind the party’s number.

But to be fair, this may be just an honest mistake but since when did anything the ECT ever do that was honest and fair? So I ask the question: Just what is the ECT trying to pull here?

Independent international election monitors are definitely needed in Thailand and there still should be time to correct this travesty.