Opinion | Thaksin Shinawatra: The Election in Thailand Was Rigged

I knew that the junta running Thailand wanted to stay in power, but I cannot believe how far it has gone to manipulate the general election on Sunday. I’m surprised, even going by the standards set by this government, and I don’t think I’m the only Thai to be.

The election commission stopped releasing results on Sunday night and announced that it would postpone delivering them until Monday afternoon. The numbers that were disclosed kept changing. As of Monday evening, as I was writing this, official preliminary results had yet to be disclosed. I don’t think there has ever been such a delay in Thailand’s modern history. The junta clearly is afraid.

In some areas, the number of ballots seemed to exceed the number of voters. In others, voter turnout was reported to be 200 percent. The national election commission issued results for some constituencies that didn’t match those reported by officials at the polling stations. A suspiciously large number of ballots were invalidated. There also were reports that some ballots, although marked improperly, were counted as votes for Palang Pracharat, the military’s proxy party.

The election commission has the authority to issue penalties known as red cards to candidates for wrongdoing. It deserves one itself.