Polling officials quit after Wed southern violence
Sunday's MP polls in Narathiwat and Yala could be hampered by a lack of manpower after explosions and shootings on Senate election day claimed three lives and wounded 31 people.
Most of the 4,660 election workers in the seven districts of Narathiwat were concerned for their safety and planned to quit, provincial election chief Prateep Wutthiratanakowit said on Thursday.Both police and the Army would be asked to send replacements to keep the balloting running smoothly, he said. More security officials would also be requested for Si Sakhon, Rusoh and Muang districts - the scenes of Wednesday's attacks, he said. In Yala, election workers in Bannang Sata and Raman districts would get double the normal daily stipend as an incentive to stay on, said Warothai Naewbantad, provincial election chief. Two more people fell victim to the violence in the border provinces. In Pattani's Khok Pho district, Songwut Chindarat, 35, was shot dead in the early morning as he was preparing Chinese doughnuts for his customers. Two men on a motorcycle stopped in front of his store and fired a .38calibre pistol at him before speeding off. Songwut was sent to a hospital where he died from a severe loss of blood, police said. An hour later, Chamnong Teamchan, 33, an official with the Provincial Electricity Authority, was shot dead by two men while riding his motorbike to work in Songkhla. Police believe Muslim militants were behind the attacks. More than 1,200 people have lost their lives since the violence emerged in the deep South more than two years ago in near daily bombings, shootings and arson attacks. The Nation
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