Sawaeng Acknowledges Election Commission's Mistake in Candidate Document Distribution

On February 1st, 2024, Sawaeng Boonmee, Secretary-General of the Election Commission, provided an overview of early voting registration. He reported 8,610 in-district registrations, 2,206,138 out-of-district registrations, and 1,666 registrations for disabled and elderly voters. Voting stations included 521 in-district, 524 out-of-district, and 22 for disabled and elderly voters. The voting process started at 08:00 and proceeded smoothly, with high voter turnout, particularly in the Bang Kapi district with 58,000 voters. Some locations faced challenges with limited space and heavy traffic, but authorities managed to facilitate voter access. Sawaeng acknowledged a specific issue in Chonburi province where candidate introduction documents for the People's Party (candidate number 8) were missing due to an administrative error. Lampang province had accidentally sent duplicate documents for candidate number 6 but none for number 8. He emphasized this was an administrative mistake, not political harassment. He warned voters against publicly declaring their voting choices, as this could lead to election irregularity complaints. Regarding potential vote buying, Sawaeng noted that while there were some movements, no concrete actions had been taken. The Election Commission deployed rapid response teams across nearly half the country to prevent vote buying. Clarifying his previous statement about preparing money, Sawaeng explained that under Section 73 of the law, both preparing and attempting to buy votes are illegal. He stressed the importance of gathering intelligence and preventing potential electoral misconduct.