Thai court to rule on challenge to 2026 election legality

Thailand's Constitutional Court will rule on a challenge to the legality of February's general election, a decision that could put part or all of the result in doubt.

The case stems from a petition filed by the ombudsman that argued that barcodes and QR (quick response) codes printed on ballot papers could be used to identify which candidate and party a voter chose, undermining ballot secrecy.



Nearly 38 million Thais voted in the February 8 election, which was won decisively by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's Bhumjaithai Party, allowing him to form a coalition government controlling more than 290 of the 500 seats in parliament.



The election commission says the codes were included on ballots for security purposes and that identifying a voter would require access to ballot stubs stored separately.



The Constitutional Court has been at the heart of two decades of on-off political turmoil in Thailand, delivering verdicts that dissolved major parties, voided two general elections and brought down multiple governments and prime ministers.