EC Reports Provincial Election Results with 58.45% Turnout
BANGKOK, Feb 3 (TNA) - Thailand's Election Commission reported a 58.45% turnout in provincial elections held on Saturday, marking a 4% decline from the previous polls in 2020, amid concerns over ballot discrepancies in several provinces.
The elections for Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) chiefs saw 16.3 million voters cast their ballots out of 27.9 million eligible voters, with 87.23% of votes deemed valid, according to Election Commission Secretary-General Sawaeng Boonmee.
The parallel council member elections recorded a slightly lower turnout of 56.06%, with 26.4 million out of 47.1 million eligible voters participating.
Election officials discovered vote count irregularities in four to five provinces, prompting investigations into the discrepancies between ballot numbers and voter turnout figures.
The Commission announced that new elections would be necessary in four districts across four provinces where vote counts fell short of requirements or candidates were disqualified.
The opposition People's Party has challenged the results in Chiang Mai and Samut Prakan provinces, citing unusually high numbers of invalid ballots. Boonmee said any recount requests would need to meet strict criteria, including evidence that formal objections were raised during the initial count.
Analyst: Local Votes Don't Mirror National
The results of the Provincial Administrative Organization elections do not reflect the general election, an academic pointed out.
Yuthaporn Issarachai, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said that the recent elections for presidents and members of Provincial Administrative Organizations may not clearly reflect the big picture of national elections because there are many different factors, such as election rules, the number of voters, political clans, and people's decision-making.
In national elections, people may consider the prime ministerial candidates, party policies, and party-list MPs.
In the case of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, which was estimated to win about 10 seats, what needs to be reviewed is the use of the old-style politics, with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra playing a leading role in the political campaigns, or the strategic planning.
Meanwhile, the affiliates of the Bhumjaithai Party, which won 9 seats, were found to have used a strategy that focused on working in the political areas and using political clans.
As for the People’s Party, which won 1 seat in the local elections in Lamphun Province, it will have to use this to its advantage by making it a sandbox to show the people across the country what local politics the party wants to present.
In the past, people have not seen the results of the party's work, so this is an opportunity to use the Lamphun area to show people the tangible things from the work of the People’s Party. -819 (TNA)
