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Published on August 20, 2007

They suggested the possibility of government tampering of referendum ballot boxes.

Observers received a number of complaints from voters whose names had been removed from electoral rolls. This may have been done by the

Interior Ministry in an effort to increase the turnout percentage, they said.

Asian Network for Free Elections director Somsri Hananuntasuk said there were no observers at many polling stations and this opened up the possibility for "rigging of the result".

"[The government] could cheat if it wanted to," Somsri said.

She said the network urged the public to demand vigilance during the counting.

"The important thing is that people observe this themselves. Counting is crucial and [this time] we have no party representatives [because it's a referendum on the draft constitution]."

Somsri criticised

the Election Commission for failing to encourage the public to monitor ballot counting, saying it had an opportunity to advertise but did not.

"We don't have enough observers and I'm worried about it."

Pravit Rojanaphruk,

The Nation