The Election Commission (EC) would like to have at least 75 days to make preparations to hold the general election and the referendum to approve the new Constitution simultaneously, tentatively on March 29, said EC Secretary General Sawaeng Boonmee.
He explained that, according to the Election Act, an election must be held 45-60 days from the dissolution of the House, whereas the referendum, according to the Referendum Act, must be held 60-150 days.
In order for the two events to be held simultaneously, Sawaeng said the EC would like to have 75 days for preparation, as the EC needs time to educate potential voters about the issues contained in the referendum and to hold hearings for members of the public to share their opinions on the referendum.
He said, however, that, at this stage, the EC has no idea how many questions will be asked in the referendum, besides the basic question about whether they agree or disagree with the new Constitution.
The EC expects to receive the questions from the Cabinet no later than January 28th, said Sawaeng.
On election day, there will be three ballots to be cast, specifically one for the election of constituency MPs, another for part-list MPs and the third in the referendum, said Sawaeng, adding that there may be the fourth ballot if the government wants voters to decide whether MOUs 43 and 44 with Cambodia should be terminated.
As far as budget is concerned, the EC secretary-general admitted that election spending this year will definitely be increased, compared to the last election, because the number of eligible voters has increased to about 53 million and polling units are expected to be increased to about 120,000, from about 90,000.
To avoid confusion among voters, the colours of the three ballot sheets will be different, but the colours of the sheets and relevant boxes must be the same, so voters will be able to put the sheets into the associated boxes.
Sawaeng said he expects unofficial vote count results for the three types of ballot will be available at about 11pm on election night.
