EC chairman upbeat Ratchaburi CEO election to be smoothly done

The chairman of the Election Commission observed the election of the chief executive of the Ratchaburi Provincial Administrative Organisation on Sunday and expressed confidence that the poll would be concluded smoothly with no major issues.

Ittiporn Boonprakong visited several polling stations in Ratchaburi’s Muang district and told reporters that from his observation, the poll had gone smoothly so far.

He said the EC dispatched 8,043 officials to man 1,149 polling stations in the Central province.

So far, there has been only one complaint against a candidate, who was accused of framing his opponent in the election and the Ratchaburi election office had accepted the complaint for deliberation, Ittiporn said.

He called on more Ratchaburi residents to come out to vote, saying the voter turnout in the previous CEO election four years ago was only 68%.

After the first half day, most polling stations appeared not to be crowded or busy with voters.

At most polling stations, those who came out to vote appeared to be the elderly and working people, with very few young voters.

Three polling stations set up in Benjamarachutiti School in Muang district saw people gradually coming out to vote during the first half of the day and most were elderly people.

At the first polling station of Tambon Khok Mor in Muang district, voters gradually came out to vote. The station has 811 eligible voters and most are soldiers stationed at the Phanu Rangsi Camp.

Officials at the station said hundreds of the eligible voters there had cast their votes before noon.