Weekday scheduling leads to low turnout
City workers remove placards of Senate candidates from the capital’s streets after polling stations closed yesterday.
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The chairman of the Poll Watch Foundation for Democracy, General Saiyud Kerdpol criticised the Election Commission (EC) for scheduling the senatorial election on a weekday - causing a low turnout.
He said staff at state enterprises and some private-sector employees had to go to work yesterday and therefore found it difficult to exercise their voting rights. If they did go to vote, they had to get a letter from election officials to prove they had been, he said.
"People are also tired of going to the polls because there have been several rounds of elections,'' Saiyud said.
In some polling stations in Nakhon Pathom, there was no wall of the booths, which breaks election law that states voting should be done in secret.
He called on the EC to reduce the budget for hiring election officials at polling booths and increase the budget to support non-governmental organisations to monitor the election.
Warin Tiamcharat, secretary of PollWatch, said some senatorial candidates introduced themselves on Bangkok streets. Some placards of candidates had details about their qualifications, while others were erected on power poles and trees. He said this broke the election law, which bans candidates from engaging in election campaigning.
The EC can disqualify them if they are elected, he said.
In some Bangkok housing estates, such as Moo Ban Sammakorn, pamphlets introducing senatorial candidates were inserted in EC booklets delivered to voters.
In Samut Songkhram, allegations of vote buying were rampant, with up to Bt2,000 being offered per voter.
A similar situation arose in Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Phitsanulok, and Si Sa Ket.
EC deputy secretary-general Maj-General Nanthawut Noppkun said the EC has so far received 60 electoral complaints: 36 per cent of which concerned vote buying, 34 per cent election rallying, and 15 per cent erecting placards in banned areas.
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'Who moved my posters?'
Senate candidate Klanarong Chantik yesterday claimed he had been defamed after it was discovered that a large number of his campaign posters had been moved and hung in illegal places, apparently in the hope that the Election Commission (EC) would disqualify him.
Klanarong said about 1,000 of his posters had been hung in places forbidden by the EC.
He filed a complaint with the police on Tuesday night.
The Nation
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