It's my biggest concern - of how to make people of every quarter understand what they're going to vote on. "The Thai government tries to implement democratic practices by holding a referendum, but at the same time also oppressed [freedom of] expression," Ichal said. "The referendum is much more complicated than a regular election. East Timor's head election commissioner Jose Agostinho da Costa Belo and his delegation have come to observe the vote as a study, as he thought a referendum could also be held in his country as a democratic instrument. In fact, the EC this time did not accredit any independent observers, whether international or domestic.Anfrel's executive director Ichal Supriadi said that the EC response, to Anfrel's request to observe for a short period before the referendum, was that the network had limited time to arrange local observers.

Source: The Nation Bangkok August 05, 2016 17:03 UTC