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Published on December 24, 2007

The general election yesterday saw democratic spirits flying high as people cast their votes for a new administration. Many polling booths had a 100-per-cent voter turnout.

NORTH

In Nan's Wiang Sa district, 52 Mlabri nomads exercised their voting rights and one, Long Suchonkhiri, 46, said they came because they wanted to get "a good member of Parliament to help Thailand".

In Ban Mai Charoensuk constituency in Muang district, 429 ethnic Hmong citizens queued to cast their votes before the starting time.

Tassing Saeyang, 31, accompanied by his wife and five children, said they had walked for hours to the polling centre because they wanted a good MP to tackle poverty, especially by issuing title deeds for land so that hilltribe people could make a living.

In Lamphun, it was reported that 100 per cent of voters in Ban Thung Hua Chang in Thung Hua Chang district had cast their votes on the advance balloting days (December 14-15), so there were only officials guarding the station.

In Mae Tha district, many Karen people lined up to cast their votes before the poll opened and the district nearby reached a voter turnout of 100 per cent before noon.

Lamphun had 307,837 voters and it could be the province with the highest turnout at more than 85 per cent.

In Chiang Mai, despite the mountain chills, about 2,500 Karen residents of 12 villages in Omkoi district's Tambon Sob Khong turned up to vote.

Tambon Administrative Organisation president Pimol Teukkhao said residents were enthusiastic and fewer spoilt ballots were expected because people were now better informed about how to cast their votes.

With high mountains blocking telephone signals, Omkoi district officials reported the counting via radio, while four-wheel-drive vehicles spent up to five hours transporting ballot boxes from polling booths to the district office.

In Muang Chiang Mai, Oud Khiewthong, president of an association for people with disabilities, led five visually-impaired people to exercise their democratic rights.

Oud urged the new government to take care of disabled people so that they could earn a living and voice their opinions.

In Phrae, many voters said they thought Thailand had problems. Sao-in Ngakoh, 86, from Mae Pak village in Wang Chin district, said he had come to vote to "save the nation".

In Chiang Rai, many hilltribe people in Mae Fa Luang and Muang districts exercised their rights, while Chiang Saen district saw more than 60 per cent of voters cast their ballots by midday.

In Mae Chan district, a stronghold of People Power Party deputy leader Yongyuth Tiyapairat, few voters were at the polling booths, unlike the enthusiasm of the 2005 election.

However, the booth at Wat Mongkol, near the People Power office, enjoyed a good stream of voters.

The atmosphere might have been less lively than in 2005 because of a reported clampdown by Chiang Rai police on vote-buying and taking large groups to the booths.

 

SOUTH

In Chumphon's Tha Sae district. Thammadol Kwaengrod, 43, an accident victim whose two arms were amputated, used his elbows to mark the ballot papers, while wheelchair-bound neighbour Yongyuth Wannawiset, 36, also exercised his political right.

Chumphon Governor Manit Wattanasen went to inspect a polling booth in Tambon Tha Yang in Muang Chumphon where some 10 senior citizens were queuing. The governor expected the province to have a turnout of at least 80 per cent.