Majority Of Thais Willing To Sell Their Votes: Poll

[ginjag]

According to the poll, the north-east showed the highest proportion of people willing to sell their votes, at 69.6 per cent, followed by Bangkok.

Followed by 90% who would also sell their mother's, their children and their brothers taxi

Only 3% said they would even consider selling their own Blackberry :D

:lol: :lol: :lol: Sure

[ginjag]

It is worth note that post 85 by emptyset is an op/ed piece. (By someone that history would suggest is worth listening to even if you don't agree or have anecdotal evidence to the contrary.) He has a bias (as we all tend to.) He barely scratches the surface of the kanman system and election canvassers at all and instead claims that what is present is a more sophisticated voter in the rural NE. That is very very arguable

Yes, it is. Let's talk about that. Can you explain how the kamnan system works & detail their interaction with local canvassers? As I said before, rural people I've spoken to tend to downplay it and they've all claimed they can vote the way they want even if they take the money. But I've only visited rural Issan a few times and never during election time so don't have first-hand experience. Also different foreigners that live there have all told me different things, so I'm guessing it really depends on which particular area you're in and you can't really generalize.

Also, have changed their tune from the mid-90s, when they wrote this:

"In recent decades, the village heads have taken on a third role, as political agents. The mix of commercial contacts and administrative power makes them the most efficient choice as canvassers and vote banks. The provincial boss politicians look to them to deliver the village vote."

"But many are still afraid of bringing villagers more firmly into Thailand's democracy. In part this is an old fear of the rebellious peasant. In part it may just be fear of the unknown. But the current mixture of paternalist structure and democratic forms does not work. It delivers up the boss politicians who have dominated parliament for much of the past decade."

http://www.robinlea....oi2/vilhead.htm

Obviously they think something has changed over the past decade or so. Incidentally here's another piece on a similar theme: http://www.robinlea....noi2/kamnan.htm

edit to add ........ Electoral fraud (such as killed TRT) is far more encompassing than just vote buying.

Not sure what you mean by this?

Why was TRT disbanded? Electoral fraud and not vote buying.

The local kanman system probably does differ from area to area. In Buriram it is likely weaker than in Pijit just to the extremely powerful political family that controls Buriram. The same could be said about Surat versus Udon.

Money flows out from the political bosses and downstream into the villages. The money dries up totally when a village doesn't vote the way they were paid/bribed/cajoled into voting. Sure an individual can vote his conscience and in most cases get away with it but if the kanman doesn't deliver the votes there are repercussions. New school? No way, new paved road? no way, new water tower? no way! Look at the pay of the village kanman .. I think it is about 4k a month from the government but the real pay comes from the largesse of the client patron system that is still so prevalent in rural Thailand. (Not just isaan)

Think about the reds ---- why do they have so little following outside of their strongholds? Is it that poverty doesn't exist in other rural areas of Thailand? Or ask why they have ANY following in the relatively affluent Chantaburi (fruit .. fruit and more fruit in addition to access to the industrial areas of Rayong just nearby).

The folks that see this as either a class struggle or about the poor are missing the plot.

Personally I would actually applaud a REAL grassroots movement that led to infrastructure development throughout rural Thailand, land reform, and a gradual end to the patronage system in Thailand. Sadly the reds (because of their leadership) have never been about this. Not from the beginning and certainly not now.

Village Kan/ 6k per month + tips etc etc. etc. Udon .

[Emptyset]

The local kanman system probably does differ from area to area. In Buriram it is likely weaker than in Pijit just to the extremely powerful political family that controls Buriram. The same could be said about Surat versus Udon.

Money flows out from the political bosses and downstream into the villages. The money dries up totally when a village doesn't vote the way they were paid/bribed/cajoled into voting. Sure an individual can vote his conscience and in most cases get away with it but if the kanman doesn't deliver the votes there are repercussions. New school? No way, new paved road? no way, new water tower? no way! Look at the pay of the village kanman .. I think it is about 4k a month from the government but the real pay comes from the largesse of the client patron system that is still so prevalent in rural Thailand. (Not just isaan)

Good post. That's how I pretty much thought it worked. I don't think it absolutely contradicts what CN said about vote buying in the original article I posted though.

Seems that many people would choose themselves to vote for the person that'd bring more of the share to their area (i.e. patronage). But what about the party list vote? Obviously you can get a better indication from that who the country really wants to win the election, because I'd very much assume vote buying plays much less of a role in that.

As Korn's wife said "I can see why the local people really love the MP, he did everything he could to help. His men used backhoes to rehabilitate the flooded farms. That taught me never to generalise about MPs in the Northeast. They don't all get their posts because they buy votes," she says.'

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Woman-of-substance-30144219.html

Edited January 18, 2011 by Emptyset

[inthepink]

I don't know what all the fuss is about. Vote buying is legal and conducted in public in the United Kingdom. Before the last election, the labour party pledged to introduce a new benefit for low income families. The basic premise was, that for every pound "poor" families managed to save, the government would match it and pay a pound into their account. The catch was that this bonus would be paid at a certain date, which just happened to be after the upcoming general election. So, if labour got in they would double your savings and if they didn't you would get nothing....(they didn't get in thank God)

If that wasn't a blatant attempt to buy votes then I don't know what is.

[ryladie99]

<br>My wife's family make about 500 baht each for very illegible voter in their family. I ask a while back as they were collecting their money where I could get mine and they just laughed.<br>

<br><br>

I remembered in 1995 when I was in Thailand and saw my relatives taking money from several candidates. They said they would pick the Right one for their town. I asked why? took the money. They said every candidate was throwing money through their front doors. They were happy but, they would not comment anything about their decisions. Just took the money and ran. I was so unhappy at that time for their behaviors. There were nothing I could do. Sorry. My opinion.

[Siam Simon]

Money flows out from the political bosses and downstream into the villages. The money dries up totally when a village doesn't vote the way they were paid/bribed/cajoled into voting. Sure an individual can vote his conscience and in most cases get away with it but if the kanman doesn't deliver the votes there are repercussions. New school? No way, new paved road? no way, new water tower? no way! Look at the pay of the village kanman .. I think it is about 4k a month from the government but the real pay comes from the largesse of the client patron system that is still so prevalent in rural Thailand. (Not just isaan)

Think about the reds ---- why do they have so little following outside of their strongholds? Is it that poverty doesn't exist in other rural areas of Thailand? Or ask why they have ANY following in the relatively affluent Chantaburi (fruit .. fruit and more fruit in addition to access to the industrial areas of Rayong just nearby).

The folks that see this as either a class struggle or about the poor are missing the plot.

Personally I would actually applaud a REAL grassroots movement that led to infrastructure development throughout rural Thailand, land reform, and a gradual end to the patronage system in Thailand. Sadly the reds (because of their leadership) have never been about this. Not from the beginning and certainly not now.

The kanman makes most of his money from mediating local disputes, managing village weddings and suchlike. Your attempt to portray the kanaman as some sort of Machiavellian political manipulator, buying the Tambon's vote for a big profit, is just more of your daft speculation.

[jfchandler]

It's great to live in a democracy where every Thai man, woman and child (and maybe even family pet or farm animal ) can freely sell their vote to the highest bidder...

What a country!