Call to scrap pre-election poll ban

Today's General News - Wednesday December 12, 2007

RACE TO PARLIAMENT

Call to scrap pre-election poll ban

SIRIKUL BUNNAG

Academics have urged that the ban on releasing opinion polls in the week before the elections be ended. They said it was a breach of civil liberties, citing cases in the US, Canada and the Philippines.

Narongdet Sarukosit, a Chulalongkorn University law lecturer, told a seminar about the successful legal battles waged against poll control laws from his studies of 73 countries.

Courts in the US, Canada and Philippines had ordered lawmakers to revoke the bans or reduce its period on the grounds of public rights and freedom. Only in South Korea had the lawmakers won the battle.

In Thailand, the organic law on House and Senate elections prohibits the results of opinion polls from being released in the seven days before the election until the ballot boxes are sealed.

The penalty is up to three months in jail and/or a 7,000 baht fine.

Mr Narongdet said of the 73 countries studied, China prohibited pre-election polls at all times. Fifty-three countries slapped bans on pre-election surveys, with the periods ranging from one month to one day. Many countries had even legalised the polling process.

Prasong Lertratanawisut, deputy managing editor of Matichon daily, said the ban is unconstitutional and unnecessary. Public confidence in pollsters should be the most effective mechanism to screen out unscientific and manipulated surveys.

But Somchart Jesrichai, an expert at the Election Commission Office, said the ban fell into the exemptions given in Section 29 of the charter.

In fact, the ban should be extended to nine days in order to cover advance voting, he said, citing what he said were many fake polls released to sway voters, particularly in the Northeast.

Abac Poll Research Centre director Noppadon Kannika said the seven-day ban corresponded with pollster ethics.

But Mr Noppadon noted many rules and laws to restrict people's behaviour would be harmful to their judgement and intellect.

Sukhum Chaloeisap, director of the Suan Dusit Poll Centre, said Thailand still needed some act to control the release of polls to bar some pollsters who lack standards and ethics in conducting their surveys.

The law should be imposed for at least five years after enactment before allowing social mechanisms to control pollsters, he said.

Bangkok Post