PEC Director Nutthawat Wongitsaraphap confirmed the vote count as accurate, with the pro-military Palang Pracharath Party candidates winning both seats for Phuket.
The victory was a heady blow to the Democrat Party, for which Phuket has been a stronghold for decades.
Although the vote count remains “unofficial” until reconfirmed by other election officials later, Mr Nutthawat said he expects the results will stand.
The candidates seem to have accepted them also, he added.
“So far I have not received any formal complaints about the vote counting in Phuket,” he told The Phuket News.
THE COUNT
Mr Nutthawat also late yesterday released the final confirmed vote count for Phuket.
Of the 294,232 total eligible voters on the island, 210,966 turned out to cast their votes – a turnout of 71.7%%.
There were 196,679 valid votes (93.23%), 8,231 spoiled ballots (3.9%) and 6,056 ballots were submitted blank (2.87%).
Of of the 144,721 eligible voters in Phuket Constituency 1, which comprises Muang District, including Rassada, but excluding Koh Kaew, Rawai and Karon, 102,466 presented themselves to cast their votes – a turnout of 70.8%.
There were 96,186 valid votes (93.87%), 3,348 spoiled ballots (3.26%) and 2,942 baollots submitted blank (2.86%).
Of the 149,511 eligible voters in Phuket Constituency 2, which comprises the remaining areas of Thalang and Kathu Districts, but also includes and Koh Kaew, Rawai and Karon (see ECT map here), 108,500 turned out to vote (72.57%).
There were 100,493 valid votes(92.62%), 4,883 spoiled ballots (4.5%) and 3,124 ballots submitted blank (2.88%).
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Sutha Pratheep Na Thalang of the Palang Pracharath Party won the seat for Phuket Constituency 1 with 32,338 votes, besting long-term Phuket candidate Raywat Areerob of the Democrat Party, who placed second with 25,194 votes.
Wisit Anansiriphan of the Future Forward Party placed third for the Phuket Constituency 1 seat with 22,599 votes.
The Palang Pracharath Party also won the seat for Phuket Constituency 2, with Nattee Tinsakhu securing 27,267 votes, ahead of Democrat candidate Chaiyot Panyawai, who amassed 23,958 votes.
Supanat Leungluea of the Future Forward Party placed third for the seat with 19,963 votes.
GOING MANUAL
Mr Nutthawat explained that issues with election staff using the “rapid report” app to submit their findings complicated the vote count on Sunday – with officials being forced manually check every vote, from every polling station, to confirm the count.
“Some PEC staffers were new to the app and inaccurately entered vote counts, but this has not affected the final results presented,” Mr Nutthawat assured.
“Some numbers were wrong so I could not trust this system 100%, so we waited until we could check every vote manually and read each vote for ourselves from the ballot papers,” he said.
His team had to wait until each polling station had conducted their own counts, Mr Nutthawat explained.
“That took until about 8pm for all the polling stations to complete their own counts,” he said.
“Then we checked every ballot from every station from both voting districts. This took until after midnight because we checked the votes one by one from every polling station,” he added.
The check on the vote count for Phuket Constituency 1 took until about 1am, Mr Nutthawat said.
The check on the vote count for Phuket Constituency 2 took until after about 2am, he added.
Mr Nutthawat is glad he made the effort.
“I have not received any complaints about the vote count at all,” he said.
DOUBTS AND FEARS
Mr Nutthawat said that he was aware of the public opinion ricocheting across social media, casting doubt on the election results nationwide, and for the count in Phuket.
“I understand how people are feeling about the poll results. They have doubt about this election, but I can confirm that there has been no vote cheating in Phuket province,” he said.
Mr Nutthawaut even called on people to disregard the results posted on the official Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) website set up to show live unofficial results.
Much concern was expressed across Phuket after the website showed – and still shows – plainly inaccurate information.
One key criticism is how Mr Sutha of the Palang Pracharath Party was shown to have first place for the Phuket Constituency 1 seat with 30,791 votes - with 92,256 votes reported as counted at the time, 8pm.
Half an hour later, his rival, Democrat candidate Raywat Areerob, was reported as having secured only 6,951 votes – but with only 12,643 votes counted at that time.
The number of votes counted actually went down as the night progressed, according to the official website. (See website here.)
Worse, ECT Secretary-General Ittiporn Boonprakong revealed to the press yesterday that people had “tried” to hack the vote counting IT system.
“I admit that a hacker had attacked the ECT system before election day. The hacker had managed to lock some people out of the system,” Mr Nutthawat explained.
Regardless, the tech problems will not affect the election results in Phuket, Mr Nutthawat assured.
“That’s why we went back to the manual system of using pen and paper. The application is only a tool to support our work,” he said.
Mr Nutthawat also said that he did not expect the problems reporting results online to force a re-vote.
“I don’t think the problem with the application or the numbers presented on the website will lead to a re-vote. That won’t happen unless I receive a formal complaint and the ECT makes the decision for us to conduct fresh polls,” he said.
Specifically regarding the huge discrepancy in the number of votes counted and the votes presented for Mr Sutha and Mr Raywat, Mr Nutthawat said, “I don’t think that we should care about this much. I stand by the count done by pen and paper.
“Remember, that the application is just a tool to show the unofficial count. It isn’t official,” he said.