Thailand: EC blames software for vote counting errors
Thailand’s Election Commission (EC) has said that computer software error was part of the cause of inconsistent and delayed vote totals from the country’s general election on March 24.
Hanoi (VNA) - Thailand’s ElectionCommission (EC) has said that computer software error was part of the cause of inconsistentand delayed vote totals from the country’s general election on March 24.
According to the EC’s announcement onMarch 29, during early reporting of theelection results, its tabulation software had trouble handling data enteredsimultaneously from several points and sometimes displayed incorrect numbers.
Earlier on March 28, the EC unexpectedly announcedthe results of the general election
Accordingto the EC, the Palang Pracha Rath party, which backs the incumbent Thai PrimeMinister Prayut Chan-o-cha, won the largest number of votes with 8.43 million,followed by the main opposition – the Pheu Thai party with 7.92 million votes.
The Future Forward party earned 6.26 millionvotes, while the Democrats and the Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) gained 3.94million and 3.73 million votes, respectively.
Voter turnout stood at 74.69 percent with 5.57percent of invalid votes, similar to the 2011 election.
The votes are used to calculate the number ofseats in the House of Representatives of each party. Palang Pracha Rath hasobtained 97 seats, while the Pheu Thai won 138.
Previous results announced by the EC were basedon 95 percent of counted votes.
However, the results will not be approved untilMay 9 as relevant agencies need time to handle official complaints, of whichthere are 186 thus far, said the EC.
The general election in Thailand took place on March 24 with over 50million people eligible to cast votes.
Atotal of 81 parties competed in the election, with thousands of candidatesvying for 350 constituencies. The other 150 members of the House ofRepresentatives will be elected from the national party lists under a system ofproportional representation. -VNA
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Illustrative image (Source: omaha.com) 
