The inspection trips abroad by the Election Commission (EC) over the Songkran holiday have landed the poll agency in hot water.
The absence of key commissioners at a crucial time when the online registration system for advance voting crashed on April 9 -- the last day of registration -- left the public frustrated. It was determined that the first EC team left Thailand on April 4.
The glitch was thought to stem from the sheer number of voters registering at the same time in a bid to meet the EC's deadline. The EC, however, dismissed calls for an extension.
The public uproar caused the EC to end its seclusion, albeit temporarily. The commissioners, led by chairman Ittiporn Boonpracong, met the media -- a rare occasion for the agency -- on Tuesday to downplay the concerns.
The May 14 elections will be the last national poll supervised by the EC under Mr Ittiporn. The agency came into existence with the approval of the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly.
The EC chief was adamant the trips were necessary as the commissioners are obliged to prepare advance voting, to prevent any delays in the delivery of ballots.
Mr Ittiporn, who visited three African nations and some South American countries, said the paucity of international flights from the former could cause headaches in getting the ballots to Thailand on time.
He said embassy staff in 13 African countries will deliver them directly to avoid any delays, as happened during advance voting in New Zealand for the 2019 poll.
However, doubts remain about the rationale for the trip, especially as the number of Thais in South Africa, Kenya and Morocco are relatively small, compared to, for example, Egypt, which no one visited.
Other commissioners visited the US, Hungary and Germany, among other destinations. The last EC team will return to Thailand next week.
It could be said the trips were carefully prepared to avoid any legal issues.
Mr Ittiporn insisted the EC did not breach any regulations as the agency secured invitation letters from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, while the 2 million-baht budget was approved by the House.
The EC head said the trips have not affected the EC's operations, as the commissioners were still able to attend online meetings.
Each commissioner was accompanied by a small team comprising four or five officers.
Meanwhile, the budget for the trips was substantially lower than the last time round, when 12 million baht was drawn from state coffers.
Nonetheless, the public has every right to ask whether such trips are really necessary and if the state budget could perhaps be spent more wisely -- especially as video-conferencing technology is now widely used by state agencies.
If there is anything the country should learn from the pandemic, it is the value of video conferences. If the commissioners can hold meetings with one another online, as claimed by the EC chairman, why can't they do so with embassy staff overseas?
The EC may have forgotten that many big world meetings have been conducted online in recent years.
Moreover, each ambassador or charge d'affaires is supposed to have knowledge about the ballot delivery system in their jurisdiction and can exercise their judgement about how to send the ballots to Thailand by the deadline so they can be counted in time -- something the EC can supervise from afar.
