Election Commission faced with legal challenges over ballot barcodes
BANGKOK, Feb 17 (TNA) - Thailand’s Feb. 8 general election is facing mounting legal challenges over the use of tracking codes on ballots, with both the Ombudsman and student activists questioning the constitutionality of the vote.
The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday gave the Election Commission (EC) seven days to clarify the use of barcodes and QR codes on ballot papers. The move follows petitions alleging that such codes allow authorities to trace votes back to individual citizens, potentially breaching constitutional mandates for a secret ballot. If the Ombudsman finds these complaints have merit, the case will be forwarded to the Constitutional Court for a final ruling.
Simultaneously, a coalition of student activists from nine major universities, including Thammasat and Chulalongkorn, filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court on Monday. The group seeks to void the election results and has called for a fresh vote, naming the EC and its Secretary-General as defendants.
The activists are also seeking an emergency injunction to suspend the official certification of election results. They argue that a stay is necessary to prevent "difficult-to-remedy damage" should the results be finalized before the court reaches a verdict.
