Vote Buying And Killings Tarnish Tambon Elections

[george]

Vote buying and killings tarnish tambon elections

Red cards expected to fly off EC shelf

BANGKOK: -- Vote buyers dumped cash to try to win nationwide elections for tambon administration organisation members and chairmen yesterday.

Provincial election offices were flooded with complaints of electoral fraud.

High turnouts were recorded as voters flocked to booths in 3,512 locations countrywide, except in the specially administered Bangkok and Pattaya.

Cheats spent more money than ever before to buy votes. The contest also became bloodier with the killing of a female candidate in Buri Ram.

Somkiat Pongpaiboon, of Rajabhat University's Nakhon Ratchasima campus, conducted a survey on the elections in the northeastern provinces and found that on average 500 baht was being offered to a voter in the TAO polls in the region.

The price shot up where competition was intense. Many canvassers strongly guarded their turf after handing out cash to voters. Mr Somkiat said fraud was so rife that some voters were paid right in front of their polling stations.

Canvassers also chartered buses and vans to take voters, many of whom worked in Bangkok, to the polling booths in their native provinces.

Thaweesak Imjit, chairman of the Prachin Buri election office, said he received many complaints from voters who presented the office with bank notes they said were handed to them by canvassers.

There were also cases where voters tore up ballots, which is a criminal offence.

Paiboon Makwimarn, chairman of the Nakhon Ratchasima polling office, said cheats had phoned voters promising them 100-500 baht per vote. Some candidates had even sent buses to pick up voters, creating a heavy congestion on the Mittraparb highway.

Panwadee Tantisirin, head of Khon Kaen's poll watchdog P-net, said the TAO races in the province were fiercely contested and complaints came pouring in.

She claimed that some canvassers had held banquets to woo voters and some poll officials had not been neutral.

Red cards were expected to fly off the Election Commission (EC)'s shelf as many candidates are expected to cry foul and seek the disqualification of their rivals.

In Khon Kaen, a canvasser for a Sok Nok Ten TAO candidate was arrested while distributing cash to voters. Ud Malachu admitted he was hired to buy votes for 5,000 baht.

In Ban Dan sub-district of Buri Ram, Thanyapat Naowapiryawat, a candidate for the TAO membership in tambon None Kwang, was shot dead on Saturday night.

Wallop Srikaew, whose father Chamroen was vying for the chairmanship in a tambon in Surin, was gunned down by a group of men while out inspecting a vote-buying incident.

Both killings were thought to be election-related. Provincial Police Bureau 3 said 18,904 policemen were despatched to maintain peace and order at polling stations in the Northeast. Thirty-five rapid-deployment police units were put on standby in the central provinces.

In violence-marred Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, the turnout was high at polling stations close to security outposts. It was low in other areas.

Supoj Prueksawan, chairman of the Phitsanuloke polling office, said overall the voter turnout was better than expected.

In tambon Tor Tae of Wat Bote district, one polling station was left with only five voters on the registration list following a separation of administrative zones eight years ago. It was reported that voters in some TAOs in Satun were paid 500 baht to vote for a TAO candidate and 1,000 baht for a TAO chairman candidate.

Turnout was predicted to top 70% in Phangnga and at least 75% in Nong Khai.

A ballot-distribution mix-up at a polling station in the Nong Pai Lom TAO caused about 80 voters to wrongly cast their votes. Polling at that unit was halted and rescheduled for Aug 7.

The EC said poll results for TAOs free of fraud complaints would be announced in five days.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-01

[george]

Update:

TAMBON ELECTIONS: Vote-buying ‘widespread’ in Isaan

ISAAN: -- Canvassers, local MPs heavily involved in influencing voters’ decisions, says academic; average vote in Northeast ‘cost Bt500’

While the approval of the election results for 3,500 tambon administrative organisations (TAOs) is underway, one thing that seems certain is that vote-buying was widespread in the northeastern provinces, an academic said yesterday.

“Canvassers from all sides were out and about in the constituencies

to offer ‘better choices’ than their rivals,” said Somkiat Pongpaiboon of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University.

A university team did a random survey by interviewing local voters in five north-eastern provinces – Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket.

Some local MPs had become involved in the polls in order to expand their influence by supporting groups of candidates, who control the constituencies when they win and then exert influence over voters, Somkiat said.

The average offer for a vote was Bt500, he claimed.

Some incumbents felt they would lose, so they were willing to pay more than their opponents to secure a seat, Somkiat said.

Some contenders even asked their canvassers to hire private vans to bring home local voters who worked in Bangkok or other major cities to cast their ballots, he said.

Veera Somkwamkid, secretary-general of the People’s Network Against Corruption, accused some local EC officials of siding with some influential candidates.

He said he had received credible information that some winning candidates were involved in vote-buying, which went on all around the country.

He had heard reports of sums being offered of between Bt100 and Bt1,000 in several provinces, including Chumphon, Buri Ram and Khon Kaen.

Meanwhile, NGO activist Bumrung Kayotha grabbed the vacant seat of head of the “Sai Na Wang” administrative organisation in Kalasin, beating rival Chana Sungkatat by almost 400 votes.

Bumrung is adviser to the Assembly of the Poor.

He is well known for badgering governments into providing support to ease the plight of poor farmers.

Ahmed Somboon Bualuang, a member of the National Reconciliation Commission, won the post of head of the “Pooyud” administrative organisation in Pattani.

He denied he exploited his NRC position for the election.

He said he only told the voters of what could be done to resolve local problems.

There are reports of a number of incumbent TAO heads losing their seats in Sunday’s polls such as in Chiang Mai, Tak and Udon Thani.

It was believed that in Ranong,

half of the 16 TAO heads lost their seats.

Ekkachai Warunprapha, secretary-general of the Election Commission, said the EC would keep approving the poll results while it was considering all complaints, including fraud and vote-buying.

Of 355 complaints, most were from the Northeast, followed by the Central region, the North and the South, he said.

Ekkachai said the approval of all results could be done by August 27.

--The Nation 2005-08-02