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Published on September 2, 2007

Dr Pruchya Piumsomboon, a systems engineer by training, is helping the Election Commission (EC) to boost its technical capabilities to ensure speed in the counting of ballots for the upcoming general election.

Pruchya, 55, played a major role in the August 19 referendum on the new 2007 charter, in which unofficial results were made available within five hours after polling booths closed.

"We got the numbers unofficially from 87 per cent of all the 87,000-plus poll stations nationwide around 8.45pm that evening. By 9.30pm, results from 92 per cent of all the stations came in. It's done unofficially.

"A big help came from the police as they have personnel nationwide. Each of the tens of thousands of officers assigned to keep law and order at

poll stations was very cooperative.

"They reported results to their respective police stations as soon as ballot-counting at each of the poll stations was finished. "Then the EC could instantly access the online data," said Pruchya, chairman of the EC's sub-committee on data-processing.

According to Pruchya, who earned his doctorate in systems engineering from Texas A&M University in 1981, the EC had not paid much attention to information technology (IT) capability until recently.

In previous elections, the EC mainly focussed on the official results, which were announced much later, leaving the mass media, especially the national television pool, to report real-time results.

"The referendum was a big test for us as we prepared for the general election, which will be a far more complicated operation.

"Unlike previous elections, we're going to count the ballots right at poll stations instead of at each of the district offices. There will be no transportation of ballots to prevent cheating and other untoward incidents.

"Then police can report the results unofficially to their online central offices via police walkie-talkies or mobile phones. Later we can verify the results against actual ballots.

"The election, scheduled for December 23, will also be more complicated than the referendum on the charter in the sense that the 'big constituency' will be used this time, so you can elect several MPs simultaneously, instead of one man one vote.

"In addition, you will also elect the party-list MPs separately, so the amount of raw data is multiple rather than just the yes or no in the referendum.

"We hope to work with the police again during the general election since they already have the manpower, IT infrastructure and experience.

"Counting ballots at poll booths should make the election more transparent and the unofficial results available much more quickly.

"By midnight on election day, we should have the unofficial tallies. As organiser of the polls, we will have to ensure that we're not biased for or against any political parties."

"The EC has yet to invest substantially in an IT infrastructure; it is clear that IT could  improve the quality of politics.

"It could make politics more transparent and fairer to all concerned because there would be an electronic audit trail.

"Besides voting, we're upgrading the IT system to better handle legal cases concerning violation of election law and the issuing of red and yellow cards [in disqualifying MP candidates].

"The system will also cover the management of political parties, of which we're the registrar.

"In the near future we should also develop an electronic voting system to allow more flexibility and help voters who are away or even abroad," said Pruchya, a younger brother of former interior minister Purachai.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com