The Election Commission (EC) is closely monitoring ahead of its announcement to certify the first batch of constituency MP election results on 25 February, reaffirming that the election remains direct and confidential. It is confident that barcode concerns will not invalidate the election. Regarding ballot discrepancies, only several hundred irregular ballots were found across more than 50 polling stations. The EC plans to take legal action against groups attempting to decode ballot information.
Date: 24 Feb 2026 GMT+717:30 GMT+7At the Election Commission Office, reporters noted that throughout the day, the EC office has been urgently preparing details to present at the EC meeting on 25 February at 10:00 a.m., to announce certification of the constituency MP election results. The investigative unit will also submit a report on complaint investigations for the meeting’s consideration, to decide how many of the total 400 constituencies can be certified. Some constituencies, and 100 constituency MPs, still require re-voting or vote recounts as ordered by the EC. The EC has instructed its office to complete these tasks by 1 March. It is expected that the EC will be able to certify constituency and party-list MP results by early March.
According tothe original election timeline,the EC had planned to certify constituency election results about one month after election day, once involved parties and election inspectors reported no evidence of unfair or fraudulent voting. The earlier certification scheduled for tomorrow is due to reports from relevant parties stating no evidence of unfairness or fraud. Additionally,complaintsof election fraud are fewer compared to the 2023 election. Investigations in provinces remain incomplete, and the law allows the EC to certify results first and investigate later, within a one-year window.
Meanwhile, regarding concerns about QR codes or barcodes on ballots, which have been subject to administrative court lawsuits and complaints filed with the Ombudsman to refer to the Constitutional Court, the EC believes court consideration will take time. Waiting would be unproductive as there is no fully empowered government to manage the country. The EC also remains confident that the presence of QR codes, barcodes, and nine-digit codeson theballot stub number dated 8 February, which some claim could allow tracing voters and their choices, has not been proven. Thus, voting remains direct and confidential.
For the re-voting held on 22 February, although barcodes and QR codes appeared on ballots, the nine-digit codes on the ballot stubs were absent because the EC used special printing techniques. These codes remain consistent with the 8 February ballots. Therefore, the newly printed ballots comply with EC regulation no. 129, giving confidence that this election will not be declared void.
Regarding ballot discrepancies where the number of ballots does not match voters (known as “ballot mismatches”), the EC’s examination of constituency and party-list vote counts (reports S.S. 5/18 and S.S. 5/18 PL) found several hundred mismatched ballots across more than 50 polling stations. Many stations have already been ordered to conduct recounts and re-voting. The EC believes that once results are certified, public attention will shift to government formation.
Additionally, reports indicate the EC office is compiling information to propose to the Commissionto considertaking legal action against individuals who observed the re-voting on 22 February and zoomed in to photograph ballots to examine the presence of barcodes or QR codes. They then attempted to decode these to see if ballots could be traced back to voters. The EC views this as an organized scheme with divided tasks aimed at invalidating the election. It also potentially violates the Personal Data Protection Act of 2019.