EC reiterates pledge to release unofficial election results late on May 14
After facing mounting criticism about problems on early voting day last Sunday, the Election Commission on Wednesday reiterated that it will release unofficial results of the May 14 general election within several hours.
However, officials delayed by one hour the time by which they said the unofficial results would be released. On April 10, commission secretary-general Sawang Boonmee said the unofficial results would be released by 10pm. He made the statement during a training course for journalists on reporting the general election results.
Today, commission staff said unofficial results will be released by 11pm on May 14.
They made the statement at an event held to demonstrate the commission’s reporting system – from poll stations countrywide to their national office – which is supported by the Government Big Data Institute.
After the polls close at 5pm, election results will be announced via the website www.ectreport.com.
Results will be broken down by province, constituency, electoral districts, and political parties.
Committees at each polling station will photograph the 5/18 form that shows unofficial results from their polling station, and then send them to the district offices of the Election Commission for verification, commission officials said. The forms will then be sent to the national office and published on the website, which will begin operating on May 14.
The website is secure and can support up to 1 million viewers per minute, election officials said.
Last Sunday, commission officials came under fire after several errors were detected during early voting. Election officials in Nonthaburi put postal instead of electoral provincial codes on the first 100 envelopes of ballots cast by early voters in the province. Commission officials said the error was addressed swiftly and assured that all 100 votes would be counted.
