Field report:
Observation of the Thai parliamentary election - International Election Observation Team Project -

The ANFREL International Election Observation team in one of the election administration committee’s meetings.

Meeting with the candidate from the Thai Rak Thai Party. The 2nd from the left is Hirayama.

1st year MA student at the Graduate School of Education
Yuta HIRAYAMA

This spring, I went to Thailand as a member of the international Election Observation team of ANFREL�iAsian Network for Free Elections, a NGO that observes elections in Asian countries) to observe the parliamentary election in Thailand. There were six members from WAVOC (Waseda University Volunteer Center), including myself, who joined the team as short-term observers. There were 40 observers from ANFREL in all, from approximately 20 countries, mainly in the Asian region. I was surprised by the international character of the team. A democratic system is nothing without a free, fair and competitive election. One of the most important functions of the observation team was to put pressure on the parties involved, to demonstrate by its presence that the international community was watching and push the observed country closer to a complete democracy, as well as to evaluate election procedures from an impartial outsider’s point of view, judging to see if the election has been conducted properly and fairly. The stories told by the other members of the team, who had observed the elections of many other countries, were both stimulating and interesting.

Before and after the polling date, the team held observational activities all over Thailand. I was sent to Buriram, an area in the Northeastern part of the country. My duties were gathering information from party offices, election administration committees, local NGOs, and local people, as well as observing both the election campaigns of the candidates and the actual casting and counting of the ballots. There were several unexpected incidents, such as the sudden death of a candidate, cautionary notes from the administration committee on a suspected case of corruption, foul play during the voting, and even attempts to disturb the observation of procedures, so the activities were very heated.

Unfortunately, the Thai elections were disorderly and there were many problems, such as information not reaching villages in the rural areas. However, the people’s level of interest was far higher than in Japan. I was very impressed by the intent way in which people listened to speeches and the number of the people who stayed at the polling places overnight to watch the counting of the votes. Democratization will probably continue in Thailand, but this sort of positive interest in election procedures should definitely not be forgotten. Experiencing this project, which started last June (including the field investigation conducted in the summer), I was brought to reflect-once again-on the ideal way of conducting elections and the meaning of democracy.