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King Prajadhipok’s Institute 123

for institutional improvement (COMSTRAT 1116 or the COMELEC Strategic
Plan for 2011-2016); facilitated the identification of priority legislation (e.g.

Political Party Reform Bill, Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, Campaign Finance
Bill, and Amendments to the Party List Law); provided the Commission
with specific recommendations on how to improve technical and logistical

preparations for AES implementation, which resulted to better election
implementation and management in 2016; and provided pointers on

how to increase the participation of vulnerable sectors in elections and
collaboration with civil society groups in voter education and election
monitoring. The COMELEC, however, has yet to adopt and institutionalize

a performance monitoring and evaluation system.

At present, the Election Commission of Thailand’s performance

over the past 19 years has been loosely monitored by specific interest
groups such as academic and research bodies, political analysts, and the

media. Although there have been records of voter turnout, valid-invalid
ballots, and surveys of the level of public participation in elections,
an integration and structured analysis of these data have not been

accomplished. Development of performance benchmarks for the ECT will
be useful, and can be used to surface/ highlight critical achievements,

weaknesses, limitations and potential avenues for institutional growth
and reform.

There is an expressed need for a more comprehensive but

simple framework for performance assessment and management for IECs.
The prototyping and subsequent testing of its usability to the Commissions
and its stakeholders will feed into efforts to institutionalize performance

M&E, and to engage more election stakeholders in constructive and
regular IEC performance and electoral system monitoring and evaluation.