EC president Supachai Somcharoen said the agency learned that lists being displayed at polling stations had been burnt, torn off or stolen in Bangkok, Chaiyaphum, Kalasin, Kamphaeng Phet, Kanchanaburi, Khon Kaen, Satun and Suphan Buri.

Supachai said the local election officials in those provinces had already filed police complaints in response to the incidents.

A number of suspects have been arrested and the EC believes some of the incidents could have been the work of thrill-seeking youngsters, or were possibly politically motivated, he added.

“The number of cases involved is minimal when compared to the almost 100,000 polling stations that we have,” the chief of the electoral agency said.

Incidents in which voter lists were damaged have occurred before in the run-up to general elections, he said, adding, “There were even more cases [in the past] than this time. Sometimes political canvassers removed the posted lists for some reason.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday said there were no signs that the voter-list incidents in the eight provinces had been carried out in concert.

“There was no clear [coordinated] move of trying to disrupt the referendum or causing unrest,” he said.

The deputy PM also said the authorities were “getting closer” to the people behind the allegedly fake copies of the draft constitution that had been distributed in some provinces, but he did not elaborate.

The National Council for Peace and Order is not unduly concerned about the recent incidents involving the destruction of voter lists, junta spokesman Colonel Piyapong Klinphan said yesterday.

“They are only small incidents. The situation for the whole country remains calm,” he said, adding that the authorities have been on the lookout for troublemakers, although they may have missed some incidents.

In Satun, the parents of a 15-year-old boy turned themselves and their son in to local police yesterday in connection with the burning of a voter list at a polling station in a local school.

The boy and his parents were questioned for about three hours, during which he admitted to destroying the list “through ignorance” and insisted that his act was not politically motivated, local police said.

Meanwhile, national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said yesterday that the police were well-prepared to maintain law and order during the August 7 referendum.

The Interior Ministry’s Administration Department has instructed provincial governors in writing to maintain peace in their provinces in the run-up to and during the national vote.

The written order was sent by the department’s director general, Pradit Yamanan, according to a source.

Separately, EC member Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said yesterday the agency was unlikely to hold public debates in all provinces, as there was insufficient time to do so.