Only a day after Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai declared that Thailand didn’t need foreign observers for the upcoming general election, the Election Commission yesterday revealed that the European Union has proposed to send an army of observers to monitor the polling expected in February next year.
In a meeting with members of the political affairs and two other subcommittees of the National Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, representatives of the Election Commission said the EU wants to send as many as 200-400 observers to monitor the election nation-wide.
An informed source in the Election Commission said the huge number of poll observers proposed by EU is unprecedented and the EC has yet to formally consider the request.
Foreign Minister Don on Tuesday said Thailand doesn’t need the presence of foreign observers, insisting that the country is capable of holding a free and fair national vote.
“Allowing foreign observers here means we have problems. It would mean that we can’t take care of ourselves,” he said
Foreign observers were invited to monitor elections in Thailand in the past. A senior official of EC told ThaiPBS World that having foreign observers at elections has been a normal practice.
“It’s a kind of cooperation among countries that have democratic election,” he said, adding that when Cambodia had its elections in July this year the EC was also invited to send representatives to observe.
