Ballots missing in Pattaya sound familiar!

[webfact]

 

ASEAN NOW Op-Ed

Lost ballot papers have become almost as contagious as the Covid Omicron virus.

Apparently, it was reported that two ballots were reported missing from one polling station, and two excessive ballots were found in another, putting the official results on hold in two districts.

Therefore, unofficial results of the Pattaya mayoral and council elections on Sunday, the first such election in over ten years, have now been withdrawn pending an investigation.

They are looking into the mysterious absence of these two ballot sheets, and one case of a ballot sheet being issued to a person who is ineligible to vote. 

The late-night decision to withdraw the results, by, Permanent Secretary of Pattaya city and Director of the Pattaya mayoral and council elections Pramote Taptim, came just a few hours after he had actually announced the results at city hall, in which Poramet Ngampichet, of the “We Love Pattaya” team, had apparently won the mayoral election.

 

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Pramote said that he will consult the Election Commission in Bangkok about how to deal with the problem, with the possibility of a fresh election needing to be held at the two polling stations where the ballot sheets went missing.

So that is the story so far in what is fast becoming a situation ripe for a Thai soap opera.

Familiar territory

I seem to remember a rather irate Donald Trump having the same issue regarding recounts and lost ballot papers in the last Presidential elections in the United States.

This month’s presidential elections in the Philippines fell far short of “free and fair” due to rampant vote-buying, politically motivated violence, and serious shortcomings in the electoral process, according to a group of international election monitors.

In an interim report the International Observer Mission (IOM), which was sponsored by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, found that the May 9 polls, “took place in the most repressive atmosphere seen since the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos” – not coincidentally, the father of this year’s winning candidate, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Among these were unprecedented failures in the country’s electronic voting system and problems with the voter lists that saw many voters unable to cast a ballot. 

The IOM also noted “a higher level of blatant vote-buying, disturbing level of ‘red-tagging’” – in which opposition members are publicly accused of ties to communist insurgents – “and a number of incidents of deadly violence.”

Voting in the Philippines has in the past always related to violence.

French blank votes

A record 13,600,000 voters, or 28% of the electorate, abstained in the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday, April 24. 

Blank and invalidated votes, meanwhile, declined in proportion compared to the 2017 presidential race, which featured the same two finalists, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.

The bottom line is that voting systems around the world seem to have not engaged with modern IT systems, to enable us the voters, to actually believe in the final result.

It seems a mystery.

 

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[smedly]

everybody knows who won - get over it

[Jingthing]

20 minutes ago, smedly said:

everybody knows who won - get over it

A few ballots? Are they having a laugh? 

[smedly]

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

A few ballots? Are they having a laugh? 

well it seems they are determined to get their way - the losers, it doesnt matter what was lost or found - it should not make any difference - they are clutching at straws - it was a very obvious win .............................. just watch how this BS evolves - the local power/mafia are trying to fudge it - hardly a surprise is it 

[smedly]

Just now, smedly said:

well it seems they are determined to get their way - the losers, it doesnt matter what was lost or found - it should not make any difference - they are clutching at straws - it was a very obvious win .............................. just watch how this BS evolves - the local power/mafia are trying to fudge it - hardly a surprise is it 

I hope he has a few very good bodyguards - he is going to need them - I predict an incident involving guns 

[klauskunkel]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

 absence of these two ballot sheets, and one case of a ballot sheet being issued to a person who is ineligible to vote. 

Are they saying that they would rerun or overturn the election result because they can't account for 3 votes?

[hotchilli]

So if two papers were lost they must know who they belonged to?

Call them and verify who they voted for, adjust the final figures and end of saga.

Why a complete new vote for those two areas?

[rwill]

 

those in power must not have liked the election results.  Would 4 votes have made a difference in the outcome?

[PoorSucker]

7 hours ago, smedly said:

everybody knows who won - get over it

Stop the steal, everyone knows Donald Trump is the mayor of Pattaya. 

[Mr Meeseeks]

8 hours ago, smedly said:

I hope he has a few very good bodyguards - he is going to need them - I predict an incident involving guns 

There seems to be some confusion, the candidate connected to the dynastic Kunplume family won.

[Jai Dee]

Several off-topic posts have been removed.