lonelywombat
April 3rd, 2006, 05:55
City candidates take hammering
POST REPORTERS
Early unofficial results last night showed a high number of people marked the no-vote option on their ballot papers in Bangkok, indicating the city was against the return to power of the Thai Rak Thai party. In unprecedented numbers, voters in most constituencies in the capital chose to abstain through the no-vote option, surpassing the number of votes obtained by many Thai Rak Thai party favourites.
Observers said the ruling party was taught a lesson. Many of its favoured candidates in the one-horse race in Bangkok who had been expected to draw enough votes to meet the 20% of the electorate requirement were beaten by the high number of no-vote votes.
These included constituency 7 candidate Pisut Jintasophon, who had 12,751 votes compared to 20,915 no-vote votes with 78% of the vote counted.
Another disappointment was actor-turned-politician Danuporn Punakan of constituency 6 who, with 30% of the ballot counted, had 7,863 votes as opposed to 14,687 for the no-vote group.
Constituency 5 candidate Chakrapob Penkair with 1,648 votes was trailing behind the 4,617 no-vote ballots when the count reached 8%.
Thai Rak Thai contestants able to defend their turf included Pavena Hongsakula who had managed to rally 22,294 votes against 12,185 no-vote votes at the half-way mark.
Observers agreed many Thai Rak Thai candidates were facing an uphill battle to meet the 20% electoral requirement.
Thai Rak Thai deputy leader Pongthep Thepkanchana attributed the high abstention rate to anti-Thaksin demonstrations led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, the election boycott by the three opposition parties and the media's role in the ''Vote for No-Vote'' campaign.
Mr Pongthep said these three players _ PAD, the opposition and the media _played crucial roles in increasing the number of crosses in the no-vote box in yesterday's elections.
He shrugged off calls for Thai Rak Thai candidates whose support fell below the no-vote vote in their constituencies to give up their right to become MPs, saying the party would abide by the election law. Under the election law, a candidate, running uncontested in an electorate has to get at least 20% of the registered vote to take a seat in the House.
In constituencies where there were rival candidates, the winner did not need to get 20% of registered votes, Thai Rak Thai executives emphasised. Mr Pongthep said it was hard to conclude that Thai Rak Thai's popularity had declined as there was a low voter turnout yesterday.
POST REPORTERS
Early unofficial results last night showed a high number of people marked the no-vote option on their ballot papers in Bangkok, indicating the city was against the return to power of the Thai Rak Thai party. In unprecedented numbers, voters in most constituencies in the capital chose to abstain through the no-vote option, surpassing the number of votes obtained by many Thai Rak Thai party favourites.
Observers said the ruling party was taught a lesson. Many of its favoured candidates in the one-horse race in Bangkok who had been expected to draw enough votes to meet the 20% of the electorate requirement were beaten by the high number of no-vote votes.
These included constituency 7 candidate Pisut Jintasophon, who had 12,751 votes compared to 20,915 no-vote votes with 78% of the vote counted.
Another disappointment was actor-turned-politician Danuporn Punakan of constituency 6 who, with 30% of the ballot counted, had 7,863 votes as opposed to 14,687 for the no-vote group.
Constituency 5 candidate Chakrapob Penkair with 1,648 votes was trailing behind the 4,617 no-vote ballots when the count reached 8%.
Thai Rak Thai contestants able to defend their turf included Pavena Hongsakula who had managed to rally 22,294 votes against 12,185 no-vote votes at the half-way mark.
Observers agreed many Thai Rak Thai candidates were facing an uphill battle to meet the 20% electoral requirement.
Thai Rak Thai deputy leader Pongthep Thepkanchana attributed the high abstention rate to anti-Thaksin demonstrations led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, the election boycott by the three opposition parties and the media's role in the ''Vote for No-Vote'' campaign.
Mr Pongthep said these three players _ PAD, the opposition and the media _played crucial roles in increasing the number of crosses in the no-vote box in yesterday's elections.
He shrugged off calls for Thai Rak Thai candidates whose support fell below the no-vote vote in their constituencies to give up their right to become MPs, saying the party would abide by the election law. Under the election law, a candidate, running uncontested in an electorate has to get at least 20% of the registered vote to take a seat in the House.
In constituencies where there were rival candidates, the winner did not need to get 20% of registered votes, Thai Rak Thai executives emphasised. Mr Pongthep said it was hard to conclude that Thai Rak Thai's popularity had declined as there was a low voter turnout yesterday.