Is Your Thai Partner Going To Vote This Time?

[billd766]

My wife and all her friends will be voting as they did in the local Tambon elections.

It will be at the local school and I have no idea who she will vote for.

At the last local one of the candidates was buying drinks for all and she convinced him to buy a bottle of SangSom so even I got a freebie for once.

[Mosha]

My wife doesn't know the name of the party. She votes for the leader. So after looking it up, she is a Democrat voter. She pretty apathetic about it all, she just does not want any of the last lot's cronies in power.

[007]

I asked wife if she was going home again to vote this time but she said no she was not going to bother because it's not serious anymore. Why bother to vote if in a few months they may force another change of government.

My girlfiend actually is keen to go to her hometown to vote, so "Thaksin not come back... no good". As for who she will vote FOR: no idea...

I'm not sure whether I should let her go, as I will have to pay the bill for the trips, presents for family, etc.

Edited December 16, 2007 by 7

[howtoescape]

Mine voted already as we are overseas and they cast their votes on the 8th Dec here in bahrain. As far as I could tell she was voting for the party she said had replaced Toxic.....very "anti coup" this one !!!

Should hope everyone is anti coup or there isnt any point in voting like the OP missus says.

[Beardog]

Mine is going to vote,she is not sure for who yet.

with so many parties & so few years of actual education- how can anyone in LOS know who is the least crooked. I proposed she tries to get a person who will welcome farangs as they bring in the money to keep Thailand going. Up to her!

[sriracha john]

All time record-high number of advance voters in this election.

Record number of overseas voters in this election.

Seems like a huge interest in voting to me...

and yes, the missus and 9 family members will vote next weekend. That's nine X's in the Democrat Party boxes.

and if further confirmation is needed to counter opinons voicing "not going to bother", "not important", "people seem very uninterested to vote", "lethargy"

EC says advanced voter turnout over 80%

Election Commission (EC) Secretary-General Suthipol Taweechaikarn revealed the results of advanced voting throughout the country with over 80 percent voter turn out. Advanced voting took place over a two day period for citizens who were not able to return to their residences to vote.

The EC Secretary-General said that voter turn outs for registered advanced voters was very satisfactory exceeding the government target of 70 percent by more than 10 percent. He commented that it was a good indicator of citizens’ concern for their rights and political awareness

- ThaiNews

Edited December 17, 2007 by sriracha john

[kelvinlinsey]

can everyone please clarify their gf's education level and social class? i think that matters and is more interesting. thank you.

does it affect there right to vote, i think not.

[kelvinlinsey]

My other half is from the north east and its a heated subject every time we talk about toxic sorry taksin, i know its better not to bring it up but all the stories that she gets told at her shopping cetre are mad, dont vote for him cos if you do we have elections again soon, the ppp love thai people and the democrats love the muslims and on and on.......

Does any1else agree that their kind between a rock and a hard place, some of my thai mates (men) are not voting cos the goverment have stopped a favourite bar from selling booze for 2 weekends hahahahah have to laugh hey.

i really hope that the masses vote and ANY vote buying and corruption is exposed, i also hope that America will sort out their policy on global warming.

Enjoy the entertainment of life.

The Dreamer

[ade100]

My girlfriend is rather cynical about Thai politics and will not be voting. She reckons the main reason Thai people vote is because they get paid to do so by one party or another and also if they don't, they will never get a job with Local Government. (Am I allowed to say this here?).

I have been trying to persuade her to vote because if someone doesn't participate in the democratic process, they have no right to complain and are passively supporting military dictatorship.

[ClaytonSeymour]

No. When she tried to register with the Embassy it was already too late.

[mrtoad]

mrstoad has headed back home for a week to vote, so a nice break for me.

She was quite keen to vote, and although in the past she had voted for Thaksin, she has said no way will she touch PPP with Samak as the leader. She's indicated that she will vote Democrat, and she said that if anyone offers her cash to vote for a particular candidate, they can shove it where the sun don't shine.

[cm-happy]

My Thai partner votes in every election. Is registered in the local Ampur/Tambon, so long distance travel is not required.

No vote, no right to complain! True not only of Thai but ALL, including expats that do not bother to vote absentee in their native countries.

The wife says she is going to vote, but have not made up her mind on what crook to vote for yet.

As for not voting and no right to complain. I have never voted. With one exception. The referendum on Norways application to join the EU.

Anyway, not voting does not suspend your human rights, thus freedom of expression still aply to those who do not.

That said, not voting for any of the idiots and the parties they represent that runs my country is a concious decition on my part. Give me a party to vote for, that understand that the politians are supposed to work for the people, and not the other way around...and I'll cast my vote too...unfortunately such a party does not exist in my country

OK, you do not vote because you don't like any of the candidates on the ballot. Or is not voting a form of protest?

Does Norway's ballots provide for "write in" candidates? If so, pretty much shoots down your rationalization for not voting.

[JonnyF]

My girlfriend's voting democrat, she didn't like Thaksin and likes Samak even less.

She also says that most of the people she knows who take cash to vote just take the cash and vote for whoever they were going to vote for anyway so I'm not sure how effective the "buying" of votes is...

[astromash]

When Thais go to vote does anyone know what they are actually presented with in terms of ballot papers?

At the advance voting last weekend in Pattaya I finally figured that my girl (a Thaksin supporter) voted 'Chart Thai' on one of the papers she was presented with which had on it a list of political parties.

But when she was also presented with a second paper with a list of people's names on it she said she didn't know any of the names and so didn't vote for anyone specific.

[SpacemanSpliff]

can everyone please clarify their gf's education level and social class? i think that matters and is more interesting. thank you.

Mine is a rocket surgeon. Only a master degree though.

The mood in Chiang Mai so far as I can ascertain , is one of lethargy and distrust of the political system.

I'm not in Chiang Mai, but out there in that sort of area as well, and I completely agree.

My husband will vote as all that is required is a walk down to the local temple of about 100m. If it required major effort I have a feeling he might not. There is a feeling that it is a bit of a staged show and affiliations seem to have changed accordingly. Large gatherings are I believe still banned in a lot of provinces so how would you have a political rally. I have seen a couple of loud speaker vans and maybe 2 lots of leaflet distributors. One of them didn't even know which party he was distributing for!

Yes, it's sad. Indeed there IS no choice.. My wife voted against the junta-drafted constitution of course, but now that it is accepted there's really no point in voting. Will probably vote PPP though, as it's the quickest way to get things over with.. Make or break. Probably break.. but it's going to happen sooner or later anyway. And it's going to be huge.

[Gimbo]

My Thai partner votes in every election. Is registered in the local Ampur/Tambon, so long distance travel is not required.

No vote, no right to complain! True not only of Thai but ALL, including expats that do not bother to vote absentee in their native countries.

The wife says she is going to vote, but have not made up her mind on what crook to vote for yet.

As for not voting and no right to complain. I have never voted. With one exception. The referendum on Norways application to join the EU.

Anyway, not voting does not suspend your human rights, thus freedom of expression still aply to those who do not.

That said, not voting for any of the idiots and the parties they represent that runs my country is a concious decition on my part. Give me a party to vote for, that understand that the politians are supposed to work for the people, and not the other way around...and I'll cast my vote too...unfortunately such a party does not exist in my country

OK, you do not vote because you don't like any of the candidates on the ballot. Or is not voting a form of protest?

Does Norway's ballots provide for "write in" candidates? If so, pretty much shoots down your rationalization for not voting.

No, actually I don't like any of the political parties.

The system is that each party make a list of candidates for parliament. Lets say they have 10 of these, ranked from 1 to 10. You can then change the ranking, but not add your own candidate to the list. And you vote for the party. How many of the canditaes get a seat in parliament is according to how many votes they get. Thats the simplified version, and it may have changed since last time I bothered checking.

The bottom line is...It will always be the same inept nutheads that will be on top of the list. So the people with a guaranteed seat, becouse they are top of the line in the party will never be removed. Since you vote for a party, not a person. The only thing you have some influence over as a voter in Norway, is how many idiots from each party will get a seat...not what idiot it will be...

So I do not vote.

However I will defend to death the RIGHT to vote.

Now back to Thailand and vote buying. The wife had a good one about that. She told me back when it was more prevalent than now...everyone took the money from any candidate that offered. But veryone voted for whomever they felt like anyway. The money wwas just free money to most people...

She is still undesided on whome to vote for though

[Khutan]

Tomorrow I am going to drive Mrs Khutan up country to vote. Its one vote, but its her opinion, which she is entitled to.

[B-BOY]

There will be lots of Thais living and working in Bangkok unable to vote this weekend, (Thais from provinces but NOT registered in Bangkok for whatever reason and NOT having time to go back to their hometowns), which in my opinion is a major mistake in system and might have an impact on outcome in case of a tight race....

[Gimbo]

There will be lots of Thais living and working in Bangkok unable to vote this weekend, (Thais from provinces but NOT registered in Bangkok for whatever reason and NOT having time to go back to their hometowns), which in my opinion is a major mistake in system and might have an impact on outcome in case of a tight race....

Thats why there was a round of voting last weekend. Where people unable to get to their home districts could vote where they lived.

[cm-happy]

I'm glad the EC doesn't release voting result until the final tally, so not to sway voters towards the winning candidate.

[monkeyclub]

can everyone please clarify their gf's education level and social class? i think that matters and is more interesting. thank you.

does it affect there right to vote, i think not.

Anyone with eyes can see the point being made here.

With respect to all TV members wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, mia's etc ...

The average john smith on the soi's of Thailand doesn't have a F!%$ing clue who he's voting for or why, as long he recieves his 300 Baht or whatever the going rate is for vote buying in your reigon.

[phutoie2]

I have to drive my wife down to 'bandit country' so she can cast her vote. Its a 310 km away from the town we currently live in. She cannot vote here until she gets her new house book.

Anyway after listening to an interesting piece on the BBC world service this morning about the Thai election, I asked would she be voting for the PPP or Democratic party. A bemused look and a feeble 'not sure- will see what Mair says'

Edited December 21, 2007 by phutoie2