ABSTRACT

PollWatch was officially established on 8 January 1992 by Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun to monitor the Thai General Election of March 1992. PollWatch was reconstituted on 8 July 1992 when Anand called the 13 September 1992 elections. Though vote-buying was still active in that campaign, PollWatch 2 was seen as successful in curbing the practice. Actually, because of a shortage of time and staff, PollWatch 3 was decentralized to the district level, where some coordinators organized activities and budgets. Volunteers were trained for two days in election law and the role of PollWatch, and started work just before the election. Education was important for PollWatch volunteers, hence most were educators although a significant number were state enterprise workers. Since low education levels are seen as one of the main supports of election fraud, PollWatch actively recruited "educated people" – students, teachers, business people, lawyers, civil servants – to work at the volunteer level.