Advance voting process at Bang Sue district office and Bang Kwang office in Bangkok

· In general it was good to see more staff assisting and facilitating the voters at the places.

· On a reflection and comparison there were more voter turn-out comparing to the same advance voting of last time.

· Despite facilitations many voters do not know or understand the process and system.

· The Polling staffs were not active for the first day, i.e. they did not tell the voters that there is no candidate name mentioned in the constituency ballot paper and that the voters must remember the numbers of their preferred candidates before getting into the booth. Additionally the staff also did not inform that how many seats for their constituency that they can vote.

· The Polling staff was also confused about the closing process at the first day and the director/head of polling centre did not make announcement for the same practice to all stations.  As mandated, the head of the centre should use round speaker or microphone to announce the closing time, so observers, party agent can observe the process.

· Regarding ballot papers for advance voters who voted at the own constituencies, the ballot papers were put in ballot boxes and the boxes were to be stored at the respective police stations (or in jails). The observer was told that different boxes would be used on the second day (16^th Dec.) Same voter lists will be used on 23^rd December.

· An important question and concern that is raised at this point is, that, “can the Thai police be trusted to take care of the ballot boxes especially since there is no seal or signatures of the ECT and party agents at the padlock, can the one’s holding the key to the boxes be stated to be neutral in their polling duty assigned in the current highly polarized socio-political situation in Thailand? What are the security measures taken during the night to prevent any tampering with the contents of the ballot boxes?”

· For ballot papers of constituency list, both type’s of ballot papers were put inside one envelop and were cast to one ballot box. Such ballot envelops will be counted for official record and put in plastic bags. After that the staff of Thailand Post will come to collect them with the post bags and these bags will directly be transported to the provincial offices in each zone. 

· It is important to be aware that the same voter lists will not be used on the 23^rd Dec, this is because they will key or note the names of advance voters by staff at the new list.

· All ballot papers of advance votes will be counted at the governor/provincial office on 23^rd Dec., not at the polling station. 

· Any party agent planning to observe the count they will need to check the venue of counting advance vote and should go to observe the process too.

· Some party representatives did witness the process at some stations but they do not know how to observe/monitor the process. They seemed happy and had no questions. It was noted that small parties did not send their representatives to monitor the process.  

• Ms. Somsri Hananuntasuk (Executive Director) observed advance voting process at Bang Sue district office and Bang Kwang office in Bangkok.  She followed the boxes to Bang Kwang police station. For enquiries please contact on +66-818 105306.
• For English enquiries please contact Ichal Supriadi (Mission Coordinator) on 0858 229002 or Adam Cooper (Media Officer / Mission Assistant) on 0818 492278
• For press statements, photos, op-eds, and more, visit www.anfrel.org