Thirty Million Thai Voters Come Out To Cast Their Ballots

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Thirty million voters come out to cast their ballots

By The Nation

Floods, rain and heavy traffic fail to deter people from exercising right

Some 30 million voters turned out for yesterday's election, which was lower than the previous record of 74 per cent four years ago.

Election Commission (EC) secretary-general Suttiporn Tawee-chaiyakarn announced at 7.20pm yesterday unofficial counts. About 66 per cent or 30,987,801 voters, out of the 46,904,823 eligible voters cast their ballots yesterday. There were 1.7 million invalid ballots (5.17 per cent) for constituency MPs and another 1.3 million invalid ballots (4.47 per cent) for party-list MPs, he said.

Throughout yesterday, many poll stations had long queues of voters while polling stations hit by floods and rain still reported high turnouts.

EC member Somchai Juengprasert was among voters who had to wait for an hour to exercise his right at the 37th poll station in Bangkok's Wang Thong Lang district.

Traffic in Bangkok and Nonthaburi was very congested as voters travelled to and from polling stations.

In Suphan Buri's Muang district, provincial Governor Somsak Phurisrisak, who voted in tambon Tha Rahad, said people were much more alert this time than beforeand estimated an 80-per-cent turnout.

In Udon Thani, so many people showed up that voters had to wait in the queue for 30 minutes to cast a vote.

Resident Prapas Srikhem, 49, said he and his wife had voted in all recent elections and this year saw their 18-year-old son Ratchanon vote for the first time.

The Rajabhat University freshman said he was excited about the process and his parents had taught him how to cast a ballot.

He invited a friend to come and vote with him.

In Kanchanaburi, hundreds of voters lined up to cast ballots - including an 81-year-old grandma in a wheelchair, and thousands of soldiers from the Surasi Army Camp.

In Chon Buri's Sattahip, more people cast ballots than in previous elections and officials expected a 70 per cent turnout.

In Rayong, there were traffic jams of voters. Provincial Governor Thawatchai Terdphaothai said he expected a 75-per-cent turnout.

In Songkhla, Thai Muslim villagers and others braved rainfall from early morning to cast ballots in eight seats.

In Lampang, the atmosphere at poll stations was buzzing as long queues formed, while Phayao's nine districts reported high voter turnouts. Kwan Phayao fishermen Cheun Lohakit, 76, and In Bathawong, 64, said they and 300 fellow fishermen from the local lake exercised their right to vote to ensure good people entered Parliament.

In Phetchabun's Lom Kao district, many of the 900 eligible voters at Tambon Wang Bal's Ban Thab Berk Ruamjai School, waded through a sea of mud from their homes in Ban Na Sa-oong to the poll station for two hours early

-- The Nation 2011-07-04

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Vote buying, ballot tearing top legal complaints

By The Nation

Suspected vote-buying and the tearing of voters' ballots were the most common legal breaches on election day, with many complaints of such criminal acts lodged with the Election Commission (EC) and private watchdog P-Net.

A number of voters were arrested yesterday for tearing ballots for various reasons - ranging from misunderstanding to drunkenness to upset after crossing the wrong boxes - all of which could subject violators to a five-year restriction on voting, a one-year prison term and/or a maximum fine of Bt20,000.

P-Net reported a number of vote-buying incidents in which voters were paid Bt200 in Phichit. In other incidents, about 100 names of candidates were missing from a list, while election posters of certain parties were seen at a number of booths.

Police yesterday prosecuted 17 people for tearing up ballots and another 21 for electoral fraud and vote-buying. In another case, a person was charged with attempting to take his double ballots away from a booth. Eleven offences involved illegal verbal attacks or unfavourable statements among candidates.

Nobody was hurt in an explosion at a booth in Narathiwat's Rue Soh district, said national police chief Pol General Wichean Potephosree. He dismissed claims by Matuphum Party candidate Phoolphol Asvahame that he had been punched in the stomach by a number of policemen providing security at a booth in Samut Prakan. The officers later filed a complaint against Phoolphol, accusing him of intimidating policemen on duty.

In Lampang, the provincial Election Commission office received complaints about vote-buying activities on the eve of election day in all four candidacies. "Voting-buying is rampant [this year] compared with all previous elections," an officer's report concluded.

Other complaints were of non-fraud acts, including sale of alcohol during restricted hours or verbal protests by voters about the absence of their names on lists of voters.

In Phang Nga, Pheu Thai Party candidates filed a complaint to police over distribution of leaflets with content unfavourable to party member Natthawut Saikua, while a Democrat Party candidate accused canvassers of a rival party of persuading electors to vote against him, or announcing openly the party's candidacy numbers.

In its statistics gathered from May 23 to the eve of election day, the EC received 185 complaints from rival parties against one another - 20 of which were dropped because of insufficient evidence - and another 564 complaints about general electoral violations, including impartial acts by officials and media members.

-- The Nation 2011-07-04