The Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs opened a monitoring center for overseas elections and referendums, revealing that ballots have been gradually sent back to Thailand for sorting before being forwarded to 400 election districts. He expressed confidence that all ballots will arrive by 5 February.
2 February 2026 GMT+7 Mr. Mangkon Prathumkaew, Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, . . . inaugurated the monitoring center for overseas elections and referendums. The center is tasked with overseeing the entire process from sending and receiving ballots to reporting on operations conducted by embassies, consulates-general, and Thai trade and economic offices at 95 locations worldwide in real-time. This ensures that every step proceeds smoothly, transparently, accurately, and on schedule.
Currently, a key step is the return of voted ballots to Thailand, which has been ongoing since 24 January. Ballots from polling stations have all been returned, while postal voting ballots are still being processed from 34 countries, with 61 countries (64.21%) completed. All ballots are expected to arrive in Thailand by midnight on 5 February, with the latest from Los Angeles, USA, arriving in the afternoon of 5 February. Then, ballots will be sorted and dispatched to 400 election districts nationwide on 6 February.
The Director-General added that so far, there have been no reports of obstacles or issues in returning the voted ballots to Thailand, so he believes all will proceed smoothly. In countries where transport is difficult, such as France, South America, and South Africa, requiring multiple flights or where delays have occurred, officials have adapted by personally carrying ballot bags back to Thailand, which is faster than cargo transport.
However, in some countries such as Japan and Arab nations where writing is from right to left or top to bottom, there have been issues with documents being returned because voters’ addresses did not conform to local postal formats. This increases the chance that mail does not reach recipients and is returned to senders, a recurring issue. Embassies have tried to contact voters for correct, complete address information and have also consulted with the Election Commission and Ministry of Interior to align address formats with those countries.
Regarding overseas referendum voting, the Director-General stated that the law requires that the counting of referendum votes abroad must be completed within 48 hours after polls close in Thailand. Embassies and consulates-general have planned and scheduled vote counting to avoid disrupting the continuous counting process in Thailand. Afterwards, the results will be reported back to Thailand. The counting will be conducted both online and by mail as specified by the Election Commission. Continuous training has been provided to officials since there is no dedicated agency for managing overseas elections and referendums. Instead, personnel are mobilized as special task forces to ensure all operations proceed smoothly, correctly, and in compliance with the law.
