With less than 8 hours to go before registration closes for out-of-constituency and overseas voting in the constitutional amendment referendum, iLaw called on the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) to extend the registration process for another 3 days.

In a statement issued today (5 January), iLaw insisted that the ECT extend the registration period until 8 January to allow more voters to register. It raised concerns that the registration period is too short and falls during the New Year holiday. People travelling during the holidays might not be paying attention to the news, it said, and may not yet have the chance to register. Meanwhile, voters who already registered to vote out-of-constituency in the general election might not know that they have to register again to vote in the referendum. The ECT should therefore facilitate the registration process and protect voters’ right by extending the registration period.

iLaw previously issued a statement on Saturday (3 January) raising the same concerns. It also noted that the ECT’s online registration platform went down on the last day of advance voting registration in 2023, and that there is a concern that the website is at risk of going down again as it estimated that around 600,000 – 800,000 people would be accessing the site per day.

iLaw calls on the ECT to extend the registration period so that as many voters as possible can register. On Sunday (4 January), the ECT said in a press release that the registration period cannot be extended as regulations require the registration period for referendum voting to be the same as that of the general election. It also said that the registrar offices must compile an electoral roll within a specified period and extending the registration period would affect this process.