Students from nine of Thailand’s universities have launched a signature-collection campaign to demand the impeachment of the Election Commission (EC), accusing it of mishandling the March 24^th general election resulting in alleged poll irregularities.

Calling themselves “The new generation people for social change”, the students have invited members of the public, including students, to sign up in support of impeachment via the www.change.org website. By noon today it is reported that more than 796,000 people have signed up via the website.

In the meantime, tables have been erected on campuses of the nine universities for students to sign up.

The nine universities taking part in the impeachment campaign include Chulalongkorn, Thammasat (Rangsit campus), King Mongkut Institute of Technology (Thon Buri campus), Kasetsart (Bang Khen campus), Chiang Mai, Naresuan, Burapha, Prince of Songkhla (Pattani campus) and Rajabhat Rachanakharin.

On Wednesday, the student council of Thammasat University issued a statement demanding an inquiry into the performance of the EC over its handling of Sunday’s election, citing allegations of election irregularities as well as the failure of the EC to provide reasonable explanations concerning alleged election fraud and its election spending.

The Khon Kaen University student council also questioned the EC’s decision not to count some 1,500 ballot sheets from early voting in New Zealand due to late arrival.

The EC has also come under heavy pressure from anti-junta parties which have demanded the commission disclose full details of the votes cast in each polling station and the number of voters who actually voted.

The EC has not yet announced even unofficial election results.

However, the EC’s office said today that the unofficial election results would be announced tomorrow (Friday), claiming that the EC and provincial election officials are in the process of making final checks on the accuracy of all the related documents.