Mixed Feelings As Thais Prepare To Vote

[george]

Thais vote Sunday in first post-coup election

BANGKOK: -- More than 40 million eligible Thai voters will cast their ballots tomorrow in the country's first general election since the military carried out a bloodless coup and toppled the elected government of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept 19, 2006, to select the kingdom's 25th prime minister since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

Thirty-nine political parties are fielding more than 5,000 candidates.

Under the dual voting system, voters will directly elect 400 members of the House of Representatives (Lower House) while 80 party-list candidates selected by political parties are chosen according to the proportion of votes each party receives on a separate ballot.

Several polls show that the People Power Party (PPP), formed by a group of former members of the now dissolved-by-court order Thai Rak Thai Party founded by Mr. Thaksin, is leading the fiercely contested election, with Thailand's oldest political party, the Democrat Party close behind.

The two leading parties -- along with most of the others -- have offered attractive incentives to voters in their campaign in a bid to become the new government, but observers said the next government would certainly be a coalition because none would be assured of an absolute majority vote of more than 240 seats.

Besides offering populist policies like the Thai Rak Thai, the PPP also told the public while campaigning that it would bring back Mr. Thaksin from exile in London if the party wins a majority of seats election and was able to form the government.

Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, had also promised free education, improving the national economy and resolving the almost four-years of bloody violence in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, an insrgency in which over 2,500 victims have died.

The interim government has set a target of at least 70 per cent of total eligible voters must cast their ballots. Thirapat Serirangsan, minister attached to the Prime Minister's Office, said Saturday he was confident that the target could be achieved.

When asked whether there would be a problem if the PPP wins and is able to form a government, Mr. Thirapat said if the Thaksin-aligned party does things correctly there should not be a problem. Any government that can create benefits to the country could continue without a problem but it would be opposed if it corrupts.

Everybody has to prevent corruption and exercise their electoral rights, Mr. Thirapat added.

Pongsak Semsan, permanent secretary for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), said Saturday while inspecting final preparations at polling booths on the that preliminary results in Bangkok are expected to be available by 8pm Bangkok time (1300 GMT), or five hours after the booths are closed, while unofficial results for all over the country to be announced by the Election Commission (EC) are expected before midnight.

With advance voting held last weekend and election campaigns coming to a halt Saturday evening, Election Commissioner Prapan Naikowit said his agency had already received over 20 complaints of election fraud and that officials were investigating them.

Elected candidates will be stripped of their victories if they are found and proven to have cheated in the election.

The EC has announced that most funds which would be used in vote-buying would appear Saturday or early Sunday at latest. It urged election authorities to monitor the fraud closely.

Viroon Thongjaron, rector of Srinakharinwirot University, showed concern about the cost of political promises made by all partied, noting that whether large and established or small, all were focusing heavily on populist programs promising free prizes or other incentives if they become the government after the election.

Such policies could be considered as insulting the people and their election campaigns are another form of vote-buying by giving away too much, Dr. Viroon said. Some parties demonstrated they did not understand the country's educational system.

"If (our) politicians aren't smart enough to improve our education system, then I think the new government won't last more than a year," Dr. Viroon said.

"Younger candidates contesting the election are campaigning like comedians and don't show any capability (to do the job)," he added.

--TNA 2007-12-22

Mixed feelings as Thais prepare to vote Sunday

BANGKOK: -- More than 40 million eligible voters will cast their ballots nationwide this Sunday as ongoing canvassing intensifies and political parties go all out in their last-ditch attempts to win as many seats as possible in the House of Representatives.

The election is seen as an internationally-recognised platform to usher the kingdom that has seen 18 coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932 into full democracy despite skepticism on post-election political stability.

Many optimists are hopeful that the election will at least return the country to democratic rule after a September 2006 military coup. Some pessimists on the other hand are less convinced the general election will reflect the people's voice.

"We will see some instability but at least the election will get rid of the coup period. We had the coup in September 2006. It's been almost 15 months now—the post-coup period. This coup period will be put behind. It's a good sign," said Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political scientist from Chulalongkorn University.

Good as it is but Dr Thitinan is on the bandwagon of skeptics who do not believe the election will either solve Thailand's ongoing political crisis or provide political stability.

Populism, the key campaign policy of the now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, had been heavily condemned and then TRT leader Thaksin Shinawatra was criticised for spending the national budget at the grassroots level for his own and his party's popularities.

"Thaksin combined the national policies with the lives of people. He connected voting with policies that we could say 'edible policies,' the policies that you can eat. Policies that help people, giving loans to people. Policies which support products from villages and find markets for them," says Viengrat Nethipo, political lecturer at Chulalongkorn University.

Ironically enough, not a single political party has failed to include populism in its policy. What most parties offer are almost the same. Free elementary schooling and generous healthcare schemes are just a few examples.

"Whether populist policies will help the grassroots in the long run, no one knows. This populist policy may end up breaking the budget," warned Dr Thitinan.

Various opinion polls have put the pro-Thaksin People Power Party or PPP ahead of the Democrat Party, the main Thaksin opponent. They predicted the PPP to win over 200 seats in the 480-seat Lower House, mainly from its strongholds in the North and Northeast.

Despite the forecast, many political observers believe the Democrats will be the driving force in setting up a coalition government.

Whoever leads the coalition, analysts predict the new government will be short-lived.

--TNA 2007-12-22

[george]

Abhisit says he will call Thaksin once he becomes PM

BANGKOK: -- Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he will call former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatre immediately if he becomes the next prime minister.

He said he would call Thaksin to invite him to Thailand to defend himself in court.

He said Thaksin should not wait until February 14 before returning to the country but should come back right away.

Abhisit said he may have to use legal measure if the former prime minister refused to come back to defend himself in court.

-- The Nation 2007-12-22

[george]

Unofficial Thai election result to be known before Sunday midnight

BANGKOK: -- Thailand's Election Commission (EC) expected the unofficial result of the Dec. 23 election to be known before midnight of the same day, local media reported.

Prapan Naikowit, one of the EC commissioners, said on Saturday that the initial polling result is likely to be known before midnight of Sunday, only 9 hours after the close of the general election polling.

He also promised a free and fair election. "We want every party to rest assured," Prapan was quoted by the Bangkok Post's webnews as saying.

Thailand will hold its first general election after last year's military coup on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time. More than 5,000 candidates from some 40 parties will contest for the 480 parliament seats.

--Agencies 2007-12-22

[george]

Thai election sparks a fresh struggle for power

BANGKOK: -- Fifteen months after a military coup, a general election is supposed to restore stability and democracy to Thailand. Instead, amid rampant cheating, it threatens to open a new chapter of political turmoil.

The favourite to become the new prime minister is Abhisit Vejjajiva, 43, the suave Newcastle-born, Eton and Oxford educated leader of the Democrat Party. His rival is a 73-year-old veteran, Samak Sundaravej, who leads the People Power Party (PPP).

But the greatest personality looming over the election is thousands of miles away - Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was overthrown in last year's coup. He now lives in London and is better known to some Britons as the new owner of Manchester City Football Club.

Mr Thaksin has been charged with corruption and banned from politics, but he is still the most popular politician in Thailand and the newly formed PPP is campaigning on his behalf.

Polls show the PPP is likely the get the largest vote, yet analysts say that Mr Thaksin's supporters are unlikely to form a government.

A new army-backed constitution, promulgated earlier this year, means no party is likely to win an outright majority, and the PPP is not expected to find coalition allies.

In this widely expected scenario, Mr Abhisit and the Democrat Party would form a coalition.

Mr Abhisit is no crony of the junta, but circumstances have cast the smooth talking son of a prominent Thai family as the only real alternative to Mr Thaksin and his allies.

As such he has attracted the support of Bangkok's conservative establishment, in addition to his natural supporters among the middle class.

His parents - both medical professors - were working in Britain when he was born in 1964. After graduating in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford he worked as a university lecturer in Thailand before becoming the youngest ever Thai MP at the age of 27.

His rise was rapid, based on a reputation for integrity that is rare in Thai politics, and he became leader of the traditionally liberal Democrat party in 2005. His is a very different political flavour from Mr Thaksin's Right-wing populism and contrasts sharply with Mr Thaksin's reputation for epic corruption.

Whatever the result, analysts say that the struggle that has defined Thai politics in recent years - between a conservative elite in the army and the royal palace and the populism of Mr Thaksin - is likely to continue.

The army has been accused of using dirty tricks to deter PPP voters. The military government has accused the PPP of distributing the recreational drug methamphetamine to buy votes.

--The Telegraph, UK, 2007-12-22

[george]

Facts about Dec. 23 election in Thailand

BANGKOK: -- The following are basic information about Thailand's general election scheduled for Dec. 23, the first after a military coup ousted elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Sept. 19, 2006.

1) Election Date

The King of Thailand Bhumibol on Oct. 19 signed a royal decree to set Dec. 23, 2007 as the date for general election.

2) Voting process

The Election Commission (EC) designated Thailand's 76 provinces into 157 Constituencies and eight Zones.

There are 480 Member of Parliament (MP) seats at the House of Representatives up for grab, 400 of them called constituency MPs, while the rest 80 called party-list or proportionate MPs.

The 2007 Constitution has reduced the number of party-list MPs from 100 as in the previous parliament to 80, bringing down the total number of MP seats from 500 to 480.

Thus on the election day, voters will get two ballot cards, one for party-list MPs voting, the other for electing constituency candidates.

For Constituency MPs, voters will choose one to three candidates that stand for their respective constituencies.

The 80 party-list MPs will come from the eight designated zones, each with 10 MPs. Each zone has an average population of some 7.8 million.

Each party can field up to 10 candidates in each zone to compete for party-list MP seats. All candidates from the same party will have the same number for voters to mark on the ballot card. Each voter can only vote for one party.

The number of MP seats in any zone that a party will get is decided by the proportion of votes it get in the zone.

3) Contesting parties

More than 40 political parties, 4,000 candidates have joined the contest for the 480 Members of Parliament (House of Representatives) seats. The following are major parties in the race (with Thai name in parentheses), followed with name of party leader in the race:

- People's Power Party (Palang Prachachon): Samak Sundaravej

- Democrat Party (Prachatipat): Abhisit Vejjajiva

- For the Motherland Party (Pua Paendin): Suwit Kunkitti

- Neutral Democratic Party (Matchima Thippathai): Prachai Leophairatana

- Royal People Party (Pracharaj): Sanoh Thienthong

- Thai Nation Party (Chart Thai): Banharn Silpaarcha

- Thais United National Development Party (Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana): Chettha Thanajaro

4) Eligible voters and expected turnout

There are some 45.1 million eligible voters in Thailand.

Among them some 4.1 million are in Bangkok, while 15.3 million in 19 provinces in the Northeast, 11.3 million in the Central region's 26 provinces, 8.3 million in the 16 provinces of the North, while 5.9 million in the 14 provinces of the South.

During the two-day advance and absentee voting on Dec. 15 to Dec. 16 the turnout of absentee voters, who cast votes out of their home constituencies, was 87.77 percent, with 1.83 million ballots cast out of the registered 2.09 million voters. Meanwhile, some 1.12 million advance voters cast votes in their home constituencies, as they would not appear in the Dec. 23 polls. The total number of absentee and advance voters recorded an all-time high, according to the Election Commission.

However, it is still hard to predict the voter turnout in Sunday 's balloting.

On Aug. 19 this year, only 57.61 percent of eligible voters participated in the first-ever national referendum on the new Constitution 2007.

In previous election, the February 6, 2005 election saw the highest turnout, with 72.55 percent of 44.6 million eligible voters casting their ballots, according to local media group The Nation.

--Agencies 2007-12-22

[deminister]

It is all a big circus. nobody is impressed by Thai politics and certainly not with the so called democratic reforms of this bunch of junta backers. There is no democracy and there will not be. We have to wait at least another ten years before the dinosaurs have really died out.

In the meantime Izan will show us the way. They have rightly discovered that they have the numbers and that they can use that one specific finger to the elite.

[h90]

It is all a big circus. nobody is impressed by Thai politics and certainly not with the so called democratic reforms of this bunch of junta backers. There is no democracy and there will not be. We have to wait at least another ten years before the dinosaurs have really died out.

In the meantime Izan will show us the way. They have rightly discovered that they have the numbers and that they can use that one specific finger to the elite.

Well as bad it is, when you compare with other countries like USA it is not so bad as well.

After the Dinos there will be new Dinos....

There is just too much money as that true democracy is possible in any country.

[jkoll724]

Well some things seems to never change - I just got told by one very good Thai friend of mine who I trust 100% that 300 baht secured his vote for one of the major parties :]

[Somtamnication]

It is a joke. Every member of my wife´s family got offered baht to vote for certain parties.

[peterallard]

To pick a nit: A majority vote is 50 percent + one, not 51 percent.

[mitrapaap]

It's their country, their politics. And as is said, the people get the government they deserve.

However, as foreigner in this country I would really appreciate seeing a young honest man with sound educational background at the top of this nation, rather than a popular cook who can't speak a word english. Again, its their choice, but if they choose the latter, it is terribly hard to understand them.

[s.pylos]

It's their country, their politics. And as is said, the people get the government they deserve.

However, as foreigner in this country I would really appreciate seeing a young honest man with sound educational background at the top of this nation, rather than a popular cook who can't speak a word english. Again, its their choice, but if they choose the latter, it is terribly hard to understand them.

The same could be said and would be true for many other countries, the US on top of my list...

[sandy]

[pointofview]

To pick a nit: A majority vote is 50 percent + one, not 51 percent.

very good point!

[SiriusBlack1]

The military was careful to give itself a veto if the result is not to their liking.

From the BBC:

Ahead of Sunday's polls, the ruling generals have passed a series of laws.

They include a controversial measure enabling a powerful security agency to order curfews, restrict freedom of movement and curb the powers of government officials in situations deemed harmful to national security.

The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) will also be able to detain suspects without trial for up to six months and restrict access to electronic equipment.

Critics say this clause is deliberately vague and could include censorship of the internet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7156289.stm

[Kyosuken]

Critics say this clause is deliberately vague and could include censorship of the internet.

They've been living under a rock from the last 5 years or what ? Internet in Thailand is indeed censored and we didn't have to wait for the junta for that !

[Baylobo]

Third world + corruption = more of the usual.

[Tony Clifton]

Critics say this clause is deliberately vague and could include censorship of the internet.

They've been living under a rock from the last 5 years or what ? Internet in Thailand is indeed censored and we didn't have to wait for the junta for that !

Also constantly plagued by DNS issues.

[SamuiJens]

Third world + corruption = more of the usual.

Well you won't be surprised then......

[cm-happy]

we'll all know the results by this time tommorrow.

The BEST part is that the loud speaker trucks will be off the road and not disturbing the peace and tranquility with theri Hi DB electioneering.

[Martin]

How important is the new Thai Parliament really going to be?

Isn't the Senate going to be there to review all that Parliament feels like enacting and to make sure things don't go off the rails?

And won't it be the technocrats and bureaucrats that move the country along the rails that run in the directions approved by the Privy Council?

Still, having a Parliament upon which eyes can be fixed whilst the 'Great and Good' do their thing without being continually yackered about has things to be said for it, I guess.

[4u2mad]

Wife just got 500bht for her vote. then said "I should get 5000bht, because I have farang!"

[nikster]

Wife just got 500bht for her vote. then said "I should get 5000bht, because I have farang!"

LOL!

[nikster]

They've been living under a rock from the last 5 years or what ? Internet in Thailand is indeed censored and we didn't have to wait for the junta for that !

We did have to wait for the Junta to increase internet censorship in Thailand by some 440% however.

http://facthai.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/rs...-2007/#comments

Thailand was well on it's way to stricter internet controls before the Junta. The only difference was that the Junta censored not only "bad" foreign sites but increasingly used censorship to shut down political discussion boards.

Which is exactly what defenders of free speech always say will happen once censorship creeps in. A case in point if ever there was one. First they censor fringe content that doesn't have any public support and everyone has to agree, then it's porn and the majority still agrees and finally it's anything that doesn't please those in power and it's too late to stop it...

[aznyron]

the USA has been mentioned a couple of times I would like to take issue with the poster but sadly he/she is correct since we have Bush I can not defend him on any issue the man is a boob and the world knows it

hopefully in 2009 Hillary will be the next President

[sriracha john]

They've been living under a rock from the last 5 years or what ? Internet in Thailand is indeed censored and we didn't have to wait for the junta for that !

We did have to wait for the Junta to increase internet censorship in Thailand by some 440% however.

http://facthai.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/rs...-2007/#comments

Interesting math on that link.... Not sure how they do it, but somehow their "45,000 blocked websites" is magically a number that is 440% greater than "800,000 blocked websites"

PM SHUTS DOWN MORE THAN 800,000 OBSCENE WEBSITES

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said that more than 800,000 websites deemed "inappropriate," will be shut down.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 14 January 2006

[kurtgruen]

Wife just got 500bht for her vote. then said "I should get 5000bht, because I have farang!"

LOL! :D

Yes, vote buying is happening up here, pretty much as usual, too. and yes, in some cases, they are paying out more than the usual 200 Baht this time.

Someone asked my wife, why there was a drinking ban last night and she said, it's so people can't be bought with Alcohol.....

my buddy had a better version...he says "They don't want them to drink, so they don't forget who they got paid by and accidentally vote for the wrong party" LOL

Personally, I liked the military government. I think so-called democracy is highly overrated. Since it is based on the idea that people are smart enough to make decisions, it will never work

Happy Holidays everyone...

[otherstuff1957]

My wife didn't get any money for her vote - mainly because she voted in Bangkok, not upcountry. Her relatives out in the provinces did what they usually do... they took the money (only 200 baht per voter!) and then voted for whomever they liked!

[Tony Clifton]

Some say if you take money in exchange for you vote, it doesn't matter, you can still vote for whoever you want. Problem is the ones involved in vote buying and who manage to get elected are 100% convinced you gave them permission to screw you right back and as many times they want over the next 4 years.

[John K]

They've been living under a rock from the last 5 years or what ? Internet in Thailand is indeed censored and we didn't have to wait for the junta for that !

We did have to wait for the Junta to increase internet censorship in Thailand by some 440% however.

http://facthai.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/rs...-2007/#comments

You have been disproved on this countless times, why do you persist? Citing someone’s blog? Just because it is in writing does not mean it is true, just look at the number of inaccurate bus maps for Bangkok.

Edited December 23, 2007 by John K

[OurManinSamui2008]

Wife just got 500bht for her vote. then said "I should get 5000bht, because I have farang!"

LOL!

Morning my wife got 100 bht, to vote, yep the money went missing .....But she is voting for who she wants to vote for, so I guess a double wammy!

Happy voting Thailand!

xx