Bangkok Governor: Main Contenders Hit Campaign Trail

[Lite Beer]

BANGKOK GOVERNOR

Main contenders hit campaign trail

The Nation on Sunday January 20, 2013 1:00 am

Democrat Party gubernatorial candidate MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra is flanked by party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, left, and former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin while campaigning at Siam Square yesterday.

BANGKOK: -- Yingluck, Abhisit among top leaders out to woo voters in the capital

Leading figures of the two major political parties contesting the Bangkok governor's seat yesterday joined candidates on their mission to woo people's votes.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party and the opposition Democrat Party's gubernatorial candidates yesterday campaigned separately and announced policies that they hopes will win the hearts of Bangkok voters.

Democrat Party candidate MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, accompanied by party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva and other party executives, told people at Siam Paragon shopping centre that residents across the capital will have access to free Wi-Fi Internet connections.

The Democrat candidate said as education is key to the country's development, he has initiated a project to provide one computer per student plus free breakfast for schools under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The schools have added a course to instil moral values in children so that they grow up to become good citizens who are not corrupt.

Many young people, shop owners and street hawkers swarmed around Sukhumbhand and Abhisit to have their pictures taken with them.

Democrat Party spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut denied reports that the party aimed to discredit Pheu Thai Party gubernatorial candidate Pol General Pongsapat Pongcharoen by publicly exposing cases against him.

He said the Democrats would not opt for an underground game or use dirty tactics but would compete against the ruling party with fairness by focusing on better policies.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday helped Pongsapat campaign for votes at Lumpini Park where Bangkok residents come to exercise in the morning. She said the party would make Bangkok grow not only economically but with balanced development so that the residents can live in the city that has fresh air to breathe, places to exercise and relax.

Pongsapat said the party would rent areas of state agencies such as the public property and the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand to make public parks covering more than 100 rai as Bangkok has only six parks. There will be areas where people can play sport and exercise. He would also seek state funds to provide more mass transit systems so people can use public transport more conveniently.

Yingluck led a big group of leading Pheu Thai figures such as Deputy Prime Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong, Phumtham Wechayachai, and Sudarat Keyuraphan.

Yingluck travelled to the park in her own van without motorcades, so that she was not accused of using the state assets for the election.

Police General Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, an independent gubernatorial candidate, called a press conference to publicly announce his decision to run in the Bangkok governor election.

He said he wanted to offer himself as an alternative as he believed an independent candidate could work better without being politically dominated and with political fighting on the national and local level.

He said he had already prepared a team of competent people who would support his mission to solve the problems of Bangkok residents.

In the first month, he vowed to resolve the issue of unpaid arrears of BMA officials and amend laws that prevent candidates of political parties from joining the gubernatorial election.

He promised a number of projects such as building a sports field for all BMA schools, establishing a bilingual education system, providing free air-con buses, providing free meals for the poor at temples.

Although he is an independent, he said he would be able to work with any party as he had experience of working with both the Democrats and Pheu Thai when he was National Police chief.

Sereepisuth's team includes Prapan Khunmee, Seri Suparathit, Amornwit Nakhontap and Kiatiwan Amatayakul.

-- The Nation 2013-01-20

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL

The underdog factor in the Bangkok election

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Top candidates Sukhumbhand and Pongsapat will be keen to be both forthright, and humble

Bangkok gubernatorial elections are extraordinary in that, previously, underdogs or candidates who portray themselves as underdogs stand a great chance. The new race has just begun and most signs suggest that the trend is very much respected. Candidates want to be seen as a political victim, or someone facing a smear campaign so dirty the only vindication is an election victory. Bangkok loves humble candidates, and that is an intriguing challenge for the big parties.

Traffic, flood fears, lack of parks and how to deal with a huge mass of accumulating garbage top the list of urgent priorities for the governor who will be elected at the beginning of March. But a big part of the Democrat Party's and Pheu Thai Party's campaigns will be mobilised towards getting their candidates to look like modest and sincere individuals. Omnipresence is a dangerous image going into the gubernatorial election.

Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the incumbent governor who is seeking a second term, may be happier being charged by the Department of Special Investigation now. The government, on the other hand, is scrambling to prevent the charges from backfiring politically. DSI chief Tharit Pengdith has announced that his agency is in no hurry to formally inform Sukhumbhand of charges related to a Skytrain contract because "we don't want to be seen as politically persecuting him".

With this in mind, Sukhumbhand may have been disappointed, politically speaking. Front-page photos of him getting charged by the government could well be more effective than 1,000 election posters combined. Whether or not Bangkok voters are "sophisticated", one can say they're like everybody else, who has a soft spot for a weaker opponent in any contest.

Pheu Thai candidate Pongsapat Pongcharoen is also having some old wounds reopened. Allegations about shoplifting in the United States are coming back supposedly to haunt him. He has, of course, denied the charges and the ruling party has let the media know without embarrassment that Pongsapat is trailing Sukhumbhand considerably in recent popularity surveys.

Everyone knows Thailand's political divide will dictate the Bangkok gubernatorial election. The Democrats want to keep their most important stronghold and Pheu Thai will seek to get the final piece of the "legitimacy" jigsaw. Bangkok voters will not be as concerned about traffic and pollution as using the election to make an ideological statement.

This, however, doesn't mean that Sukhumbhand and Pongsapat will not first enter a race to be "the underdog" going into the election. Chamlong Srimuang, Bhichit Rattakul and Samak Sundaravej have all proved how the sympathy card could be very formidable if played correctly. And don't discount the usual "decoy" - a supposedly loose-cannon "independent" candidate whose only motive for joining the race could be to steal votes from a key runner.

It will be a delicate campaign. Sukhumbhand faced considerable criticism from the way he handled the 2011 floods, but Pheu Thai's fierce attacks focusing on the disaster could badly backfire. The Democrats, on the other hand, may weaken Sukhumbhand's chances if they openly bring national politics into the campaign. One of the biggest missteps by Sukhumbhand, some analysts believe, was when put a political message in a giant billboard which should have served solely to promote his City Hall work.

Largely, it will be an ideological campaign because, at the end of the day, counting on "ideology votes" are both rival parties' best bet. But Bangkok voters' "underdog" obsession will be seriously taken into account, meaning both parties will be aware that overdoing it could ruin their chances. A great balance is needed here. In other words, the key to victory could be how to be offensive while being perceived as the underdog at the receiving end of an unfair campaign. After all, politics is about seeking mass sympathy, and in the Thai context, that is much more so.

-- The Nation 2013-01-20

[bigbamboo]

So of the two main candidates one is under suspicion for corruption and the other for theiving and both are proven liars!

Hobson's choice Thai style.

[Robby nz]

I live 150km north of the city and in the last couple of days huge election banners (3mx6m) with Yingluck and Pongsapat have appeared here.

Seems they are spreading the campaign far and wide.

Whatever else you say about the lady she sure knows how to advertise herself, the govt TV station CH6 is barring soaps almost a full time advert for PT including the great leader overseas.

[Buchholz]

Transport Ministry to speedily solve traffic problems within Greater Bangkok

BANGKOK, 22 January 2013 (NNT) – The Transport Ministry is to speedily solve the problem of traffic congestion in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

On Monday, the meeting of a committee tasked with finding solutions to traffic problems in Greater Bangkok, chaired by Deputy Permanent Secretary for Transport Teeraphong Rodprasert, resolved to assign the Department of Land Transport, the Department of Highways, Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), the Traffic Control and Command Center, and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to jointly conduct further studies into the planned adoption of information technology in easing traffic congestion.

In doing so, the committee suggested such measures as the installation of more CCTVs and the stricter enforcement of speeding laws to achieve this much-anticipated ambition.

Teeraphong said that each office is asked to report back their parts of studies to the meeting on January 28, when the conclusion of the number of new CCTVs to be installed and related budgets are expected to be drawn.

He is confident that once such details are derived, the execution of all plans will be immediately launched and the traffic condition in Greater Bangkok will accordingly been improved in a more efficient way.

-- NNT 2013-01-22

[rubl]

Easing traffic congestion with CCTVs and law enforcement? Easing traffic congestion by promoting car sales? Central government taking care of Bangkok?

Pheu Thai led government very busy promoting it's candidate for BKK governor, methinks. Next we'll have someone stating 'in the words of our great Thinker: solved in six months'. But please don't forget, this is a pre-election promise only. If you dare to elect the wrong candidate, we have ways and means to make you feel sorry

[metisdead]

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