Phone cards used to buy votes

General News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

Phone cards used to buy votes

Voters in Phitsanulok are being lured with the offer of prepaid phone cards instead of cash, as candidates try to get around the laws against vote buying. Wichian Chaiyapakorn, chairman of the Phitsanulok provincial election committee, said yesterday he had received complaints that certain candidates and their canvassers had distributed prepaid phone cards to eligible voters.

This practice left no room for authorities to press vote-buying charges against them.

Some candidates also had allegedly paid money to local residents to listen to their campaign speeches, said Col Wichian. The election panel would look into those complaints.

He urged people to file complaints with the election authorities if they were offered cash or goods by candidates or canvassers.

The Buri Ram provincial election committee has resolved to allow voters aged 60 or more to write the numbers of the candidates of their choice on the palms of their hands when casting their ballots.

Arkhom Thongthirat, chairman of the election panel, said many elderly voters could not remember the numbers of their preferred candidates. Allowing them to write the ballot numbers of the candidates and the number for the party in the proportional representation on their hands would assist them.

The new election law did not prohibit this practice, Mr Arkhom said. However, they must not show those numbers to others.

In Songkhla, a candidate has been accused of hosting dinners for his political canvassers.

Pol Col Mongkhol Boonchum, chairman of the Songkhla election committee, said a candidate in constituency 3 had allegedly entertained canvassers in restaurants and night spots in Hat Yai and Muang districts of Songkhla on five occasions.

Each time there had been 20-30 canvassers at the functions. An investigation has begun into the allegations.

By : Bangkok Post