Abhisit urges the Election Commission (EC) to open the way for the public to verify election results, emphasizing that the barcode issue violates Article 85 of the Constitution, which guarantees a truly secret vote.
On 20 Feb 2026 GMT+7, Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, spoke on the program “Kamkon Khao Khuay Nok Cho” about the Election Commission's handling of the general election, amid calls for vote recounts and a new election. He called on the EC to facilitate public access to examine the election process, which has many problems including ballot irregularities and vote counts that do not match the totals. He suggested uploading the marked ballots from polling stations alongside the consolidated score sheets on the website, enabling society to verify if the results align. The Democrat Party has formed a task force to investigate these issues. For example, in Songkhla's 3rd constituency, there is a discrepancy of 13,000 ballots between two counting systems; the party's candidate has filed a complaint with the EC. The EC responded by phone that there was no problem as the total scores matched, but the party awaits an official written explanation. In Bangkok, the party’s candidate reportedly received 71 votes, but the consolidated score sheet recorded only 1. Abhisit optimistically suggested it might be a transcription error, but further review showed 70 votes missing, added instead to spoiled or unmarked ballots. He urged the EC, if confident of transparency, to disclose the marked ballots as well. Failure to do so would raise suspicions and criticism that the EC is hiding something. If the EC insists there is no wrongdoing, it must be able to reveal the evidence. Otherwise, Abhisit warned this could escalate to widespread distrust of the system and lead to undesirable outcomes. Therefore, the EC must take responsibility and facilitate verification.
Regarding public criticism that voting is not secret due to barcodes on ballots, Abhisit said that the principle of a secret ballot guarantees citizens’ rights and freedoms to vote without coercion or fear. If secrecy were only at the moment of marking the ballot, why would election laws prohibit anyone from making special marks or symbols on ballots, as these could reveal voting choices? The Constitution’s Article 85 clearly states that secrecy means no one can know or verify for whom a vote was cast. Barcodes enable such verification and knowledge. The phrase “may know or verify” does not require proof to occur; the potential alone violates the constitutional mandate.