Sawaeng Calls Thai Electoral System Most Transparent Globally, Warns Against Using Democracy as Political Tool
Thailand's election chief claims the country has the world's most transparent electoral system, but warns that good laws alone cannot fix politics without ethical participation from voters, politicians, and administrators.
On May 26, 2025, at TK Palace Hotel, Sawaeng Boonmee, Secretary-General of the Election Commission (EC), presided over the opening ceremony of the Quality Political Party Curriculum Trainer Workshop, 2nd batch of 2025. Sawaeng stated that while good laws and constitutional reforms are important foundations for legitimate political competition, having sound legislation alone does not guarantee success. He pointed out that despite Thailand having excellent constitutions in 1997 and what was called an "anti-corruption" constitution in 2017, Thai politics has made little progress over nearly 30 years, with corruption indices remaining among ASEAN's worst. Sawaeng emphasized that the real problem lies with people, not laws, and urged against weaponizing democracy for partisan political goals. He stressed that good politics requires three elements: good political players, good voters, and good election administrators. While affirming that Thailand has the world's most transparent electoral system, Sawaeng acknowledged that all three groups face accusations—politicians are accused of vote-buying, citizens still accept payments for votes, and the EC faces questions about impartiality. He noted that the electoral system belongs to the people and called for collective responsibility rather than scapegoating any single institution.
