Fewer Chiang Mai Votes ' Not A Sign Of Pheu Thai Party Weakness'

[webfact]

Fewer votes 'not a sign of party weakness'
The Nation


Kingkarn na Chiang Mai at the nomination ceremony. Photo by MCOT.net.

CHIANG MAI: -- Pheu Thai's support among Chiang Mai residents has not dwindled even though its by-election candidate, Yaowapa Wongsawat, won fewer votes than the party did in the general election, a university lecturer said yesterday.

Paisit Phanitkul, a law lecturer at Chiang Mai University, said Yaowapa's victory confirmed that Chiang Mai was still Pheu Thai's stronghold.

In the by-election in Constituency 3 on Sunday, Yaowapa won some 70,000 votes, whereas in previous elections Pheu Thai earned more than 80,000 votes.

Paisit said Yaowapa, a sister of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won fewer votes due to two factors. First, the by-election was held after the long Songkran holidays when voters were not very interested in politics. Second, Pheu Thai assumed that the Democrat contender, Kingkarn na Chiang Mai, would be no match for Yaowapa and thus did not mobilise its supporters to go to polling stations in full force.

Pheu Thai spokesman Promphong Nopparit said that though Yaowapa had won fewer votes than in previous elections, it did not mean the party was losing its popularity. He said the party did not have enough time to hold election campaigns and the voter turnout was also low.

Meanwhile, Democrat deputy spokesperson Mallika Boonmetrakul told a press conference yesterday that the party was satisfied with the votes its candidate had received.

She said the Democrat candidate stood at a disadvantage because of the ruling party's power and her opponent's wealth, but she had still won a high number of votes. Kingkarn got 21,979 votes gainst Yaowapa's 70,181.

Mallika said the fact that Pheu Thai had notched up fewer votes than usual should prompt the Shinawatra family to pay attention to public opinion.

Mallika also called on the Election Commission alone to consider the four complaints of alleged election fraud, because the Democrat did not trust the Chiang Mai Election Commission.


-- The Nation 2013-04-23

[NongKhaiKid]

To say the public wasn't interested is a bit of an understatement as I would suggest so many are completely turned off by politics and politicians as is made clear in ABAC polls and the like, even allowing for polls themselves often being distrusted.

Yes the election was just after Songkran but how much too was down to voters considering the result was a forgone conclusion so they didn't have to waste their time voting ? The candidate herself didn't inspire much confidence with her " to busy to campaign " statements so perhaps lucky that her family name helped carry the day

[chainarong]

Yes , it all boils down to lack of interest and we've moved on , well some have.

[otherstuff1957]

I wonder how many votes the current Democratic candidate got this time vs the number in the previous election? Given that turnout in a by-election is always lower than in a general election, the raw numbers don't really mean much, the ratio of PT vs Dem votes would be much more revealing.

[whybother]

I wonder how many votes the current Democratic candidate got this time vs the number in the previous election? Given that turnout in a by-election is always lower than in a general election, the raw numbers don't really mean much, the ratio of PT vs Dem votes would be much more revealing.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/634341-yaowapa-wins-chiang-mais-by-election/?p=6327664

This time.

Yaowapa secured 67,101 votes while Kingkarn received 21,372 votes

Last time.

Police radio reported 71,365 votes for Kasem, 18,682 votes for Kalyakorn

Edited April 23, 2013 by whybother

[rubl]

Missing amongst the various reasons why less votes for k. Yaowapa and why it doesn't matter, it the thoughtful suggestion by a rich teacher that this is just a further example of the Democrats party using the 'Bangkok model' to help Pheu Thai improve.
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/634341-yaowapa-wins-chiang-mais-by-election/page-2#entry6327643

[otherstuff1957]

Thanks Whybother. So, the PT votes were down by about 6% and the Democratic vote was up by about 14%. Not exactly matching the "Bangkok model".

Of course, by elections are not a good indicator of national trends, as local likes and dislikes will have a big influence on the vote. I somehow suspect that Yaowapa does not have a warm and cuddly personality.

[AleG]

Missing amongst the various reasons why less votes for k. Yaowapa and why it doesn't matter, it the thoughtful suggestion by a rich teacher that this is just a further example of the Democrats party using the 'Bangkok model' to help Pheu Thai improve.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/634341-yaowapa-wins-chiang-mais-by-election/page-2#entry6327643

I hope he is not a math teacher.

[Wombat6]

Looks like they calculated that they didn't have to buy as many votes this time

[Baerboxer]

Thanks Whybother. So, the PT votes were down by about 6% and the Democratic vote was up by about 14%. Not exactly matching the "Bangkok model".

Of course, by elections are not a good indicator of national trends, as local likes and dislikes will have a big influence on the vote. I somehow suspect that Yaowapa does not have a warm and cuddly personality.

Yes, and interesting that this was in the PTP/Shinwatra clan stronghold. In the West the political commentators would suggest the government take notice of this. Here, the government probably don't give a monkey's !

[ianf]

I think the reason she got fewer votes is that she spent to much time at the Zhou Zhou watching the panda.

[waza]

"Paisit said Yaowapa, a sister of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, won fewer votes due to two factors. First, the by-election was held after the long Songkran holidays when voters were not very interested in politics"

Hmmm this sounds familiar..........

"Yaowapa was elated by the result, saying that she had little time for the election campaign."

Perhaps Yawnapa was likewise too hung-over from songkram to be interested in politics. However, I feel this will be a trend with her.

[khunken]

I wonder if Thaksin's telephone pole would have done better? Now I'm not in any way suggesting that Yaowapa resembles a pole.

[jamhar]

once is an anomaly, twice is a trend,......

There will be some nervous people waiting for the next election result.

[Dap]

I think the reason she got fewer votes is that she spent to much time at the Zhou Zhou watching the panda.

Ok! THAT made me laugh.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Dap

[muttley]

Thanks Whybother. So, the PT votes were down by about 6% and the Democratic vote was up by about 14%. Not exactly matching the "Bangkok model".

Of course, by elections are not a good indicator of national trends, as local likes and dislikes will have a big influence on the vote. I somehow suspect that Yaowapa does not have a warm and cuddly personality.

Yes, and interesting that this was in the PTP/Shinwatra clan stronghold. In the West the political commentators would suggest the government take notice of this. Here, the government probably don't give a monkey's !

Actually if you take all the different parties votes and the number of people who actually voted into consideration you will find the PTP vote is down 7 - 8% on last year and the dem increase is around 3%, not the 14% mentioned.

It's a by election in a PTP stronghold. The results can and will be used to indicate all kinds of things by all parties, but it still being 2 years away from the next occasion for the Thai people to show their feelings (coups of various kinds excepted of course) the results don't really mean much.

[hellodolly]

I wonder if Thaksin's telephone pole would have done better? Now I'm not in any way suggesting that Yaowapa resembles a pole.

I generally find your posts interesting and informative.

Why the deviation on this post?

You have no right to insult telephone polls.

[OzMick]

Weakness, not really. But the by-election is a perfect example of PTP's willingness to manipulate the democratic system, expend public money to their own ends, and put forward stooge/puppet candidates until the right (Shinawatra) people finish their EC/CC sentence or the watchdogs muzzled.