Last Sunday's election

[plachon]

As one of what must be a large number of past Thailand residents with a Thai family now living overseas, I am interested to learn a few firsthand (or second, if you feel it is well-verified) reflections about last weekend's general election. Such as, were there good turnouts at the polling stations? Were the polling stations well managed and checked for electoral malpractice by independent monitors? Were the local results announced in good time? Any reports of vote buying? Was there a feeling that the winning party or MP reflected local sentiment? Did the Democrat Party stand any candidates in Isaan and if not, who was the main opposition party to the PTP? Were there any disturbances or reports of election-linked violence?

Presumably, because this election is anything but "normal" and it's highly likely that the result will not stand for long, there may well have been a feeling amongst the millions of Isaan folk living in Central Thailand and elsewhere that it wasn't worth their while traveling home to cast their vote, so the turnout will be much lower than previous elections. Have you seen official turnout results from this election and if so, what were they. I'm always a bit suspicious that they are higher than they ought to be (e.g. 80 - 90 %), given the vast number of Isaan diaspora who don't normally travel back to vote (e.g. my wife) and don't get a postal vote, that there would seem to be some element of ghost voting going on. Just a hunch based on previous reports of dodgy practices at election from vote buying to to ballot box stuffing.

Interested to hear local reports, now nearly a week has passed by and the results are still very much "up in the air".

[Suradit69]

If you have Thai family, why not look at Thai publications http://www.thairath.co.th/ or see if you can access some Thai newscasts on the Internet.

"... there may well have been a feeling amongst the millions of Isaan folk ..."

And you seriously thought you'd get some insight into what Thai people thought here at the Farang Fantasy Factory??

[Martyjustice]

As a American in Ubon I can only says that voter turnout did seen very low.

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