Dirty tricks feared by Pheu Thai, the Election Commission urged to probe Maha Sarakham vote-buying reports

[webfact]

The former MP and party list candidate Sutin Klangsaeng made the revelations on Friday regarding suspicious activities in Maha Sarakham province and asked the Election Commission to respond quickly to identify those involved in the conspiracy and to initiate a prosecution of those involved.

 

by Joseph O' Connor

Key Pheu Thai leader insists that those behind the subterfuge to illegally harvest votes from locals in Region 6 in Maha Sarakham should not only be exposed but prosecuted. The party list candidate in the May 14th General Election has called on the Election Commission to respond quickly and decisively to his complaints which he claims are backed by eyewitness testimony.

Ex-Pheu Thai Party MP and current party list candidate Sutin Klangsaeng has called on the Election Commission to investigate what he claims to be evidence of a conspiracy to commit fraud in the forthcoming General Election in northeastern Maha Sarakham province. The key parliamentary leader in the last House of Representatives has offered to send lawyers to liaise with locals in the province who he says have been approached by organised groups seeking to obtain their personal identity cards and control of their votes in the May 14th General Election. The news comes with conflicting reports about the possible outcome of the electoral contest with an extensive Super Poll study released on Friday suggesting that the Pheu Thai Party will only win 160 seats in the General Election and predicting that the Move Forward Party will only return 22 MPs.

 

With just over four weeks to go until polling day in the General Election scheduled for May 14th, a former Pheu Thai Party MP and a key figure in the party is warning of dirty tricks regarding the impersonation of voters and attempts to buy the identities of locals for cash handouts in the northeastern province in Maha Sarakham.

 

Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2023/04/15/dirty-tricks-vote-buying-feared-by-pheu-thai-in-election-maha-sarakham/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2023-04-17

 

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[Thailand]

Free and fair election followed by the military in power for another 8 years.

[sammieuk1]

All the results could be published as early as tomorrow with only 4 weeks to go ???? 

[OneMoreFarang]

Dirty tricks? Like promising 10,000B per person to get the votes? 555

[SoilSpoil]

Pua Thai is master in dirty tricks.

[zzaa09]

That rascal Thaksin....

????

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

is warning of dirty tricks regarding the impersonation of voters and attempts to buy the identities of locals for cash handouts in the northeastern province in Maha Sarakham.

Nothing new.

[spidermike007]

I believe it. The last thing in the world I would expect from Prayuth is honesty and integrity. He seems utterly desperate, to cling to power at any cost. And this is from the man who swore he would be a 2 year "caretaker PM". The power got to his head. 

[zzaa09]

18 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I believe it. The last thing in the world I would expect from Prayuth is honesty and integrity. He seems utterly desperate, to cling to power at any cost. And this is from the man who swore he would be a 2 year "caretaker PM". The power got to his head. 

4-8 more years. 

Wonder how many Farang residents will flee this time around....

 

????

[findlay13]

Thai politics and dirty tricks? Never!????

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

The dirty tricks are baked into the constitution and the Senate.

[seajae]

really got to laugh at them making these claims when they have offerd bribes to everyone over 16 getting 10,000 baht if they are elected and using the govt money to do it so they dont have to fork out any of it themselves, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Thai politics is firmly locked into graft and corruption

[Will B Good]

Standard practice here..........house addresses being circulated now as to where to go and  get their money......each house has an observer to check they don't collect more than one hand out.

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, zzaa09 said:

4-8 more years. 

Wonder how many Farang residents will flee this time around....

 

????

I doubt that. He would have to steal the election. And I don't think the masses would be passive, at that point. I will make a most optimistic prediction. If they lose, then will never be another military coup here. Think about it. The moral authority that backed the coups in the past, is long gone. And the army does not have the guts to wage war against their people, Burma style. 

 

Nah. Won't happen. The Thai army does not have the guts for it, and the Thai soldiers, and the families of the soldiers would never tolerate their sons murdering innocent Thais. And the Thai soldiers are not facing the level of desperation the young Burmese are. The poverty here is not as grinding as it is in Burma. I do not think it could be sustained, if the fools started it. Thailand is a very different culture than Burma, on a dozen significant levels. And the youth now, are very different people than they were during past coups, which were violent.
 
The army is in a difficult position now. If voted out, they would have to accept it. The generals would have to be content with their massive, ill gotten fortunes. 

[Tarteso]

8 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

The generals would have to be content with their massive, ill gotten fortunes. 

Oops..There is a problem; The ambition of more money and power.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I believe it. The last thing in the world I would expect from Prayuth is honesty and integrity. He seems utterly desperate, to cling to power at any cost. And this is from the man who swore he would be a 2 year "caretaker PM". The power got to his head. 

And then there is the fugitive criminal who will do anything to get back to power so that he can get his revenge. 

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, Tarteso said:

Oops..There is a problem; The ambition of more money and power.

But, with more limitations this time. The moral authority that allowed past coups is out the window. Gone. That could make a big difference. Plus, I think the army showed us very little the past 8 years, and especially during covid, with the vaccination failures, shutdowns, etc. If anyone thought they were being represented before, that illusion is likely gone now. Alot has changed. 

[klauskunkel]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

asked the Election Commission to respond quickly

However (Recent The Nation Article):

All Six Election Watchdogs Have Strayed From Thailand

 

Coincidence? Well Planned and executed? Dumb Luck?

Cast your vote...

[soi3eddie]

10 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

But, with more limitations this time. The moral authority that allowed past coups is out the window. Gone. That could make a big difference. Plus, I think the army showed us very little the past 8 years, and especially during covid, with the vaccination failures, shutdowns, etc. If anyone thought they were being represented before, that illusion is likely gone now. Alot has changed. 

You have a very good point about the "moral authority" being gone. People just would not accept future coups as they did in the past.

 

[JCauto]

I'm sure there will have been no financial incentives for this paragon of integrity to suddenly switch sides after discovering (to his shock - SHOCK!) that there were shenanigans going on in the pristine political party he joined. A genuine Thai politico with conscience. ROFLMAO! 

[Eric Loh]

10 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

You have a very good point about the "moral authority" being gone. People just would not accept future coups as they did in the past.

 

Not only the moral authority has gone but also the re-alignment of the military allegiance and the physical re-allocation of units stationed in Bangkok that were central in past coups. The next coup if any will not be a roll-over of the people and welcomed with flowers by the yellow shirts in Bangkok. 

[Thailand]

1 hour ago, soi3eddie said:

You have a very good point about the "moral authority" being gone. People just would not accept future coups as they did in the past.

 

Sadly I tend to think they would accept coups.

But just my opinion based on having been through 3 in Thailand.

[herfiehandbag]

54 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Not only the moral authority has gone but also the re-alignment of the military allegiance and the physical re-allocation of units stationed in Bangkok that were central in past coups. The next coup if any will not be a roll-over of the people and welcomed with flowers by the yellow shirts in Bangkok. 

The re-organisation of the Bangkok garrison is part of the creation of a relatively small, but well equipped "Praetorian Guard" to protect, guard and perhaps project power for one particular entity. They would, I suspect, be able to preserve a strong grip on Central Bangkok, probably clear and maintain a corridor to an airport; the question is for how long. Outside of Bangkok, and in particular North and Northeast the police will simply melt away and I doubt the Army even has the resources or logistics to manoeuvre more than a few kilometres beyond their barracks.

[AgMech Cowboy]

7 hours ago, Thailand said:

Free and fair election followed by the military in power for another 8 years.

Nothing free and fair about it when they can buy votes without repercussions as Pheu Thai does every election. (I'm talking hard cash into hands for the vote).

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I doubt that. He would have to steal the election. And I don't think the masses would be passive, at that point. I will make a most optimistic prediction. If they lose, then will never be another military coup here. Think about it. The moral authority that backed the coups in the past, is long gone. And the army does not have the guts to wage war against their people, Burma style. 

 

Nah. Won't happen. The Thai army does not have the guts for it, and the Thai soldiers, and the families of the soldiers would never tolerate their sons murdering innocent Thais. And the Thai soldiers are not facing the level of desperation the young Burmese are. The poverty here is not as grinding as it is in Burma. I do not think it could be sustained, if the fools started it. Thailand is a very different culture than Burma, on a dozen significant levels. And the youth now, are very different people than they were during past coups, which were violent.
 
The army is in a difficult position now. If voted out, they would have to accept it. The generals would have to be content with their massive, ill gotten fortunes. 

I sure hope that you are right, I have long thought a lot about what you have said here, a lot of soldiers are conscripts from decent Thai families, and if some other soldier tries to follow what the present unelected caretaker PM did, I cannot see how the Thai people would stand for it.

[NoshowJones]

3 hours ago, Tarteso said:

Oops..There is a problem; The ambition of more money and power.

But read the post from spidermike007, a few hundred soldiers led by some Cha Cha copyist against the ordinary Thai people, population 60 odd million, who the majority of soldiers would probably back, even their guns and tanks would not be enough.

[Tarteso]

31 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

But read the post from spidermike007, a few hundred soldiers led by some Cha Cha copyist against the ordinary Thai people, population 60 odd million, who the majority of soldiers would probably back, even their guns and tanks would not be enough.

Let's look at the History and Chronology..

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-protests-youth-history-int-idUSKBN28S1BZ

[NoshowJones]

3 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

Let's look at the History and Chronology..

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-protests-youth-history-int-idUSKBN28S1BZ

Yes, but things could be a lot different now. Let's all hope so.

[spidermike007]

14 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

Let's look at the History and Chronology..

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-protests-youth-history-int-idUSKBN28S1BZ

You forget one very salient aspect of that. Moral authority. That was then. This is now. Big difference. 

[Eric Loh]

2 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

The re-organisation of the Bangkok garrison is part of the creation of a relatively small, but well equipped "Praetorian Guard" to protect, guard and perhaps project power for one particular entity. They would, I suspect, be able to preserve a strong grip on Central Bangkok, probably clear and maintain a corridor to an airport; the question is for how long. Outside of Bangkok, and in particular North and Northeast the police will simply melt away and I doubt the Army even has the resources or logistics to manoeuvre more than a few kilometres beyond their barracks.

What is clear is that power has shifted and the Eastern Tiger faction that has staged 3 coups in last 2 decades are marginalized. The rise of the King’s Guard has ellipse the military influence of the 3 Ps.