Lampang Residents Concerned About Unusually High Number of Invalid Ballots, Request Recount in Districts 2 and 4

On February 10th at the Lampang Election Commission office, citizen representatives led by Atthathep Smakrunkit and Piyawadee Thaveekitjinda met with Thongnate Dujai, the Election Commission director, regarding the unusually high number of invalid ballots in Lampang MP election Districts 2 and 4. The citizens noted 7,364 invalid ballots in District 2 and 6,329 invalid ballots in District 4, while party-list ballots had significantly fewer invalid votes. After consultation, they learned that party-list ballots clearly showed party names, whereas district ballots only displayed numbers. The Election Commission director stated that the vote counting is complete and any challenges should have been made during the initial counting process. He noted that compared to the 2023 election, the number of invalid ballots (around 7,000) has not significantly increased. Most invalid ballots were due to crossings overlapping numbers or marking empty candidate slots. Without clear evidence of misconduct, the Lampang Election Commission cannot order a recount and advised gathering more evidence for further investigation.