New poll watchdog
Election Watch 2006 - a new poll watchdog set up by health professionals and journalism lecturers - will be checking for electoral fraud today.
The Democrat Party is pinning its hope on the body to monitor polling in numerous provinces, especially in the South and places where it expects vote-buying, cheating and fraud to be rampant. Democrat deputy leader Alongkorn Pollabutr yesterday praised the watchdog, which he said would be useful in guarding against vote-buying where only Thai Rak Thai candidates are running. "Everything that has to be done will be done to make sure that the voter turnout will reach 20 per cent," he said. Candidates running unopposed must receive at least 20 per cent of the votes in their constituency to win. Meanwhile, members of a religious youth group marched from Saranrom Palace to Democracy Monument to encourage eligible voters to vote wisely and according to religious values.
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