Coming Thai election

[EricTh]

 

Is there any place where we can observe the politicians talking publicly in Chiang Mai before the upcoming election next  week?

 

I am curious as to how Thai people canvass for votes. 

 

[scottiejohn]

 

17 hours ago, EricTh said:

I am curious as to how Thai people canvass for votes. 

With brown envelopes normally!

[johng]

 
Is there any place where we can observe the politicians talking publicly in Chiang Mai before the upcoming election next  week?
 
I am curious as to how Thai people canvass for votes. 
 

Around here they have loud speaker vans driving around all day blasting out the candidates number...and sometimes a bunch of "groupies" walking through the neighborhood handing out leaflets.

[Nyezhov]

Signs, loudspeakers and person to person.

[moontang]

I have noticed a bunch of Thais in pink Floyd dark side of the Moon t-shirts, lately..is that a coincidence, the Party Party, or standard issue for Narcs?

[EricTh]

8 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

 

With brown envelopes normally!

 

What's the brown envelopes for? Money inside? 

[NCC1701A]

3 hours ago, johng said:

..and sometimes a bunch of "groupies" walking through the neighborhood handing out leaflets.

i hope they don't get mixed in with my groupies.

Edited March 16, 2019 by NCC1701A

[johng]

i hope they don't get mixed in with my groupies.

From what I've seen they tend to be older "groupies" I assume yours are nearer 18+ [emoji39]

[Denim]

Check out the zoo. Good a place as any.

[sammieuk1]

10 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

i hope they don't get mixed in with my groupies.

That reminds me of a Supertramp song????

[Lacessit]

The award for Masochist of the Week goes to the OP.

[scorecard]

11 hours ago, EricTh said:

 

What's the brown envelopes for? Money inside? 

You answered your own question. But it can be any colour any size envelope and envelopes not necessarily seen or used, sometimes it passes through other less direct means.

 

Although vote buying is illegal it still happens but since some stronger laws were passed it's a bit more hidden.

 

To avoid detection sometime the canvasser for a specific party will visit each house and not give money but an assistant to the canvasser tells the house occupants to check the letter box next morning and sure enough there's 500Baht (or more of less) waiting.

 

There are many methods to buy votes and more are invented at every election.

 

Sometimes the village chief will be secretly given a large amount of money on the promise he/she ensures every person in that village votes for the candidate who has paid the vote buying bribe. Aligned to this what's possible is that the village chief makes it known, perhaps through his/her staff that he/she can check which villagers voted for the indicated party and there will be punishment for anybody who voted differently.

 

All of the above direct from a very loudmouth arrogant lady I used to work with, hails from Udon Thani, she openly tells people these details and says she very proud of her very senior cop father who is one of the main organizers of this totally illegal activity.  

 

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by scorecard

[johng]

That reminds me of a Supertramp song[emoji848]

Breakfast in America ?

"Don't you look at my girlfriend
(Girlfriend)
She's the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend
(Girlfriend)
I've never seem to get a lot
(What she got in another land?)"

[sammieuk1]

34 minutes ago, johng said:

Breakfast in America ?

"Don't you look at my girlfriend
(Girlfriend)
She's the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend
(Girlfriend)
I've never seem to get a lot
(What she got in another land?)"

 My thinking was more like.....

 

 

Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer
Well can you put your hands in your head, oh no!
I said dreamer, you're nothing but a dreamer
Well can you put your hands in your head, oh no!
I said "far out, what a day, a year, a life it is!"
You know, well you know, you had it comin' to you
Now, there's not a lot I can do

Dreamer, you stupid little dreamer
So now you put your head in your hands, oh no

I said, "far out, what a day, a year, a life it is!"
You know, well you know, you had it comin' to you
Now, there's not a lot I can do

Work it out someday
Oh ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma

(If I could see something) you can see anything you want, boy
(If I could be someone) you can be anyone, celebrate, boy

(If I can do something) you can do something
(If I could do anything) but can you do something out of this world?

Take a dream on a sunday
Take a life, take a holiday
Take a lie, take a dreamer
Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream along
Dreamer, dream and dream along
C'mon and dream, dream along (come along)
(C'mon and dream, dream along)

(C'mon and dream, dream along) na na na na na na na na
Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer (c'mon and dream and dream along)
Can you put your hands in your head, oh no! (c'mon and dream and dream along)
I said dreamer, you're nothing but a dreamer (c'mon and dream and dream along)
Can you put your hands in your head, oh no! (oh, come on, oh, come on)
Oh no

[EricTh]

Let's hope that the new government will be more welcoming towards retirees .

 

Who knows we might have a new immigration head after the election.

[stillhereandlovinit]

18 hours ago, EricTh said:

Let's hope that the new government will be more welcoming towards retirees .

 

Who knows we might have a new immigration head after the election.

Probably not as it will no doubt be the same government. According to most of the polls anyway.

[Jeffkp]

A friend of mine lives in Chiang Mai Land. He told me people were going house to house yesterday offering 500 Bhat to vote for their candidate (I won't mention which one!). He's disgusted by Thai corruption as I think many are.

[champers]

On 3/17/2019 at 10:24 AM, sammieuk1 said:

 My thinking was more like.....

 

 

Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer
Well can you put your hands in your head, oh no!
I said dreamer, you're nothing but a dreamer
Well can you put your hands in your head, oh no!
I said "far out, what a day, a year, a life it is!"
You know, well you know, you had it comin' to you
Now, there's not a lot I can do

Dreamer, you stupid little dreamer
So now you put your head in your hands, oh no

I said, "far out, what a day, a year, a life it is!"
You know, well you know, you had it comin' to you
Now, there's not a lot I can do

Work it out someday
Oh ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma

(If I could see something) you can see anything you want, boy
(If I could be someone) you can be anyone, celebrate, boy

(If I can do something) you can do something
(If I could do anything) but can you do something out of this world?

Take a dream on a sunday
Take a life, take a holiday
Take a lie, take a dreamer
Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream along
Dreamer, dream and dream along
C'mon and dream, dream along (come along)
(C'mon and dream, dream along)

(C'mon and dream, dream along) na na na na na na na na
Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer (c'mon and dream and dream along)
Can you put your hands in your head, oh no! (c'mon and dream and dream along)
I said dreamer, you're nothing but a dreamer (c'mon and dream and dream along)
Can you put your hands in your head, oh no! (oh, come on, oh, come on)
Oh no

You and Johng are both bloody well right.

[champers]

15 minutes ago, Jeffkp said:

A friend of mine lives in Chiang Mai Land. He told me people were going house to house yesterday offering 500 Bhat to vote for their candidate (I won't mention which one!). He's disgusted by Thai corruption as I think many are.

Is it dishonest for a Western government to promise to reduce income tax, then put up Value Added Tax? For example.

[bloody tiger]

17 hours ago, Jeffkp said:

A friend of mine lives in Chiang Mai Land. He told me people were going house to house yesterday offering 500 Bhat to vote for their candidate (I won't mention which one!). He's disgusted by Thai corruption as I think many are.

the actual voting process is by secret ballot behind a closed screen. The voter will go to designated poll, have their name ticked off and receive their ballot paper. They then go behind a closed screen to tick their ballot paper and slip it into the box. The voters name is not recorded on the ballot paper.
You are free to vote for who like.
So even if you are offered a bribe (sometimes several bribes by several different parties) they still don't have any guarantee that you will vote for them

[colinneil]

24 minutes ago, bloody tiger said:

the actual voting process is by secret ballot behind a closed screen. The voter will go to designated poll, have their name ticked off and receive their ballot paper. They then go behind a closed screen to tick their ballot paper and slip it into the box. The voters name is not recorded on the ballot paper.
You are free to vote for who like.
So even if you are offered a bribe (sometimes several bribes by several different parties) they still don't have any guarantee that you will vote for them

Have you ever been in a polling station here?

My wife will again be working all weekend as an election scrutineer, now she tells me there are no screens, just tables with ballot boxes on them.

Before you tell me i am wrong, that was exactly how it was at the last election.

[ThaiBunny]

17 hours ago, champers said:

Is it dishonest for a Western government to promise to reduce income tax, then put up Value Added Tax? For example.

The wily Australian politician, John Howard, once stated that there's a difference between "core" and "non-core" campaign promises.  The punters will never know which is which until it's too late

[Mexlark]

Party party! Everytime!

[warcy]

3 hours ago, bloody tiger said:

the actual voting process is by secret ballot behind a closed screen. The voter will go to designated poll, have their name ticked off and receive their ballot paper. They then go behind a closed screen to tick their ballot paper and slip it into the box. The voters name is not recorded on the ballot paper.
You are free to vote for who like.
So even if you are offered a bribe (sometimes several bribes by several different parties) they still don't have any guarantee that you will vote for them

The voter's name is not recorded but each ballot has a serial number I believe and that can be traced to the actual name.

 

 

 

[johng]

15 hours ago, warcy said:

each ballot has a serial number I believe and that can be traced to the actual name.

If that's so then its a serious flaw...  every ballot paper can and should have a serial number for proper counting

but there should not be a record of what number ballot a particular voter received,that completely negates the concept of a secret ballot.

[MickeyMaow]

I woman arrived out at my mother inlaw’s house in San Sai (second visit) backed by a group of soldiers and offered 300 baht for their vote. It was supposed to be 500 baht but the soldiers need their cut of 200 baht. My inlaws declined.

 

This is not new, I remember this happening with me last girffend’s family astound out in Mae Rim around 15 years ago.

[markcm19]

are any candidates going to address the burning / pollution? They would have my hypothetical vote...

Edited March 23, 2019 by markcm19

[johng]

23 hours ago, colinneil said:

Have you ever been in a polling station here?

My wife will again be working all weekend as an election scrutineer, now she tells me there are no screens, just tables with ballot boxes on them.

Before you tell me i am wrong, that was exactly how it was at the last election.

 

[cmsally]

We have had about 4 of them set up on their mobile truck platforms near our house. The policies and blurb they spout are not particularly inspriring.

I could give you a rundown of what goes on on the local level behind the scenes. It would make a good TV comedy. The problem with politics here is that it involves too much money/power but in addition anyone sticking their head above the parapet puts themselves at great risk.

[champers]

On 3/22/2019 at 1:53 PM, colinneil said:

Have you ever been in a polling station here?

My wife will again be working all weekend as an election scrutineer, now she tells me there are no screens, just tables with ballot boxes on them.

Before you tell me i am wrong, that was exactly how it was at the last election.

You are wrong. ????