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224 ENHANCING ELECTIONS AS INSTRUMENTS OF DEMOCRACY IN THE ASEAN REGION

6. Performance monitoring and evaluation is key to IECs
institutional development and reform, and engaging partners and

voters in constructive assessments will provide critical insights on
how to make elections more inclusive, honest, orderly, and peaceful.
Impartial, third-party assessments of the electoral system and voting process

over the past decade have guided the COMELEC’s formulation and
adoption of targeted electoral and institutional reform agendas, including

the transition to an automated election system. These assessments
have given impetus to the development of new strategic benchmarks
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 is
just being 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