After an almost two-week delay, the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) has not announced the certified results of the 26 June Senate election.

Senator candidates arriving at the Impact Forum convention centre for the national-level selection on 26 June

ThaiPBS reported that the ECT held a confidential meeting on Monday (8 July) to discuss complaints and other reports relating to the senate election, but did not certify the election results due to disagreements among commissioners. They only discussed what needs to be done before the certified results can be announced.

ECT Chair Ittiporn Boonprakong told the Bangkok Post that “several issues” must be addressed before the certified results can be announced. He declined to say when the ECT would announce the results, but said that it is not stalling.

Matichon Online reported that the ECT held another meeting yesterday (9 July). However, it has not decided whether to certify the results because some issues still need to be investigated by the ECT office before a decision can be made. Commissioners are to reconvene for another meeting at 9.00 today (10 July).

The Organic Act on the Selection of Senators does not specify a time limit for the ECT announcement of the certified results, only that the ECT must wait 5 days after the election if it believes the election was conducted fairly and properly.

The ECT has been criticized for not certifying the results. Nantana Nantavaropas, a senator-elect from the group representing media professionals and writers, said that the complaints the ECT received do not mean that the election should be voided. The ECT should endorse those who won the election fairly, Nantana said, and it can disqualify anyone guilty of cheating or who ran in the wrong professional groups after announcing the results.

Nantana noted that complaints of irregularities have been filed during past general and local elections. Since 200 senators have been elected along with 100 reserves, the ECT should endorse the results and investigate the accusations against each individual, instead of voiding all results. She called on the ECT to do its job and endorse the results, or senators-elect could file their own complaints about the delay.