BANGKOK, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Constitutional Court is set to rule on Sept. 28 whether barcodes and QR codes printed on ballots violated the charter's guarantee of voting secrecy, in a case that could lead to the February general election being annulled.
In a statement on Wednesday, the court set the ruling date after hearing testimonies from five witnesses, noting that the fact-finding phase has now closed and ordered associated parties to submit written closing statements by Sept. 11.
The court found it necessary to conduct an on-site evidence inspection on Thursday, assigning two judges and court officials to inspect the ballot storage sites, ballot stubs, unused ballots, voter rolls, and election materials used in the Feb. 8 election in Bangkok.
In March, the court accepted a petition filed by the country's Ombudsman arguing that the barcodes and QR codes printed on ballot papers could potentially be used to trace and identify individual voters and their selections.
The Ombudsman said it had received 22 complaints urging it to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court against the Election Commission and associated parties, arguing that the design of the ballots made it possible to trace a voter's identity and cross-check it against how they voted, implying that ballots were not cast in secret. ■