‘Computer error’ blamed for incorrect vote totals, says Thai Election Commission

Thailand’s Election Commission said on Friday computer software was partly to blame for inconsistent and delayed vote totals from last Sunday’s general election.

During early reporting of the election results, its tabulation software had trouble handling data entered simultaneously from several points and sometimes displayed incorrect numbers, the commission said in a statement as it faced accusations about a lack of transparency.

Several political activists said they were starting a petition to try to impeach the election commissioners.

On Thursday, the commission issued a 208-page compilation of votes in every constituency in response to criticism, but some tallies still failed to add up correctly.

The commission’s figures show the party supporting the current military junta had the most popular votes, trailed by its main challenger, the party ousted by the military in a 2014 coup.