About 64% of voters turn out in Bangkok

ELECTION 2007

About 64% of voters turn out in Bangkok

SUPOJ WANCHAROEN and APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Nearly 64%, or 2.63 million, of the 4.13 million eligible voters in Bangkok, went to the polls in the post-coup election yesterday, where the Democrats won a majority of 36 seats.

Observers earlier expected the election atmosphere in the capital to be quiet, considering the high voter turn-out during the advanced voting last week and a long weekend.

But most of the poll stations in the city were crowded with voters yesterday. In some polling units, up to 100 voters were queuing up to mark ballots.

At the previous April 2 election, Bangkok also had a 63% voter turn-out.

In Bang Phlad district, the three children of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra voted at the Pimolvit School, where the name of their father was marked "voting rights terminated".

After casting his ballot, Mr Thaksin's son, Panthongtae, said: "He [Mr Thaksin] will be back when everything is settled. He loves this country."

There were few reports of violations of the election law, including a small number of cases of ballot-tearing and bringing ballots out of polling units, while a People Power party candidate lodged a complaint with police against city hall's thesakij city police for demolishing electioneering billboards.

In Bang Khen district, more than 50 people filed complaints at the police station, saying their names were missing from the list of eligible voters.

Although the atmosphere at the polling stations was busy until 3pm, voters did not seem to get excited about the vote counting.

About 1,000 people showed up at city hall to watch a live broadcast of the ballot counting from 50 districts, but there was no cheering as there was when votes were counted in previous elections, as early results showed a big margin between the Democrats and its arch-rival the People Power party (PPP).

Unofficial results showed the Democrats won 27 of the 36 seats in Bangkok, one seat more than its pre-poll target. The PPP, meanwhile, won nine seats. None of the candidates from other parties won a seat from the two big parties in the constituency system.

The Democrats swept all seats in seven of 12 Bangkok constituencies and also secured first place in the proportional representative system in Bangkok, with 52.60% of votes, followed by the PPP with 41%.

The poll result was in line with speculation by political analysts, who predicted the Democrats would gain more seats than the PPP because of the plummeting popularity of PPP leader Samak Sundaravej among the well-educated middle class who were disappointed with his performance as city governor.

The wide gap between the two front-running parties prompted PPP secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee to question the BMA's ballot counting procedures.

"Such a huge margin of votes obtained by the Democrats and the PPP is impossible," he said, adding that his party would launch an investigation.

The election in Bangkok was observed by several foreign missions, including journalists from Bhutan, who inspected the Public Relation Department's news coverage, and a group of police officers from the Maldives who studied the Thai police's role in poll management.