Social Security election panel lets 12m vote without prior registration

The committee overseeing the Social Security Board election has revised the voting rules, allowing about 12 million insured people and employers to vote on September 27 without registering in advance.

Jaturong Praising, an acting board member representing insured people, welcomed the decision, saying the previous requirement to register in advance to be eligible to vote posed a major obstacle and discouraged many people from exercising their voting rights.

He also said he expected more people to vote in this election, adding that the committee needs to be well prepared to cope with the sudden increase in the number of eligible voters, as the previous election format was designed to handle only 30% of potential voters.

Prior to the rule change, only insured persons and employers who had registered in advance were eligible to vote, with about 1.6 million people registering out of roughly 12 million eligible voters. The new rules allow all eligible voters to cast their ballots without registering in advance.

He also pointed out that the 275 million baht budget originally allocated for the election may need to be reviewed, as only 1.6 million insured people and employers had registered out of a total of about 12 million.

The change follows a Central Administrative Court order suspending the enforcement of the previous election rule, which paved the way for the revision of the voting conditions.