Lawmaker Slams Social Security Chief Over Election Rules

On September 24, 2025, at Parliament, Rakchonok Srinok, a Pheu Thai list MP and chair of the House Budget Committee overseeing budget administration, criticized the Social Security Office secretary-general before a committee meeting on election expenditure oversight. She said that after the secretary-general gave ambiguous remarks about whether campaign material (known locally as "poi") could be brought into polling booths for the Social Security Board election, the law is unambiguous: Section 44 explicitly prohibits candidate-related campaign material in voting booths. However, personal documents like handwritten notes should be permitted. She expressed confusion about why the Social Security Office contradicts the law.

Rakchonok noted that a September 9 resolution and court rulings in Senate elections confirm that such material can be brought in, and she questioned why the Social Security Office was making it harder for voters to participate. She stated that if she were labor minister, she would call in the secretary-general and ask why a long-serving civil servant was distorting the law. She recommended the safest approach is to write candidate names by hand, and asked insured persons experiencing problems to send her videos and photographs so she can pursue the matter through her committee. However, she stressed she does not want the Social Security Office to overreach further, as the election is already challenging enough.

Rakchonok urged voters to be vigilant. She noted that polling booths will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and votes are easily lost through misreading or being marked invalid. She encouraged people to observe the vote count afterward if possible, which should take less than an hour. When asked about the Social Security Office's public awareness campaign, she said a survey of people in central Bangkok areas, including heavy social media users, found that 70% still did not know the election was happening.