BMA issues guidelines to election officials

BANGKOK, February 1 (TNA) - Realising that trouble would erupt during Sunday’s new general election, especially by anti-government protesters who oppose the national poll, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has issued guidelines to Bangkok and provincial election officials to deal with the situation. BMA Deputy Permanent Secretary Banchong Sukdi told journalists on Saturday that under the guidelines, aimed at facilitating the national poll to run smoothly, Election Commission (EC) officials in Bangkok will be responsible for handling the duty at polling booths in the capital where there are no EC constituency directors to perform the duty. Banchong said that ballots must be kept at safe places by EC constituency directors in case they could not be handed to the officials before 8am, when the election begins, and special forms would be given to voters so that they could mark for candidates they prefer to vote for in case of the absence of ballots. Banchong acknowledged that the EC has also been instructed to ask for assistance from the Royal Thai Police to dispatch police officers to man booths in Bangkok to prevent any untoward incident on the election day. According to a Royal Thai Police spokesman, about 130,000 police officers plus 27 companies of Royal Thai Armed Forces officers will be deployed to help maintain peace and order. Meanwhile, protesters of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), who have opposed the election and demanded for a domestic political reform before the new national poll, marched to Yaowaraj Road, known as Thailand's Chinatown, to persuade voters to boycott the February 2 general election. (TNA)