Election campaign could be more than a feast for the eyes

Nobody knows how many will register their names for the Bangkok governor election. So far, we have learnt that one will be Apirak Kosayodhin from the Democrat Party, the governor who just completed his fouryear term. Joining the race will be TV person¬ality ML Nattakorn Devakula, for¬mer Democrat Party member Kriengsak Charoenwongsak and former massageparlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit.

Registration will take place from September 15 at City Hall, and the election promises to be more colourful than four years ago.

At that time, Leena Jangjanya was disqualified when a dragondance performance she brought along to City Hall was deemed to be votebuying. But this year the Election Commission has allowed candidates to bring along dragon dances and longdrum shows on only one condition: the show must stop when the candidates receive their election numbers.

If Leena joins the race, it will be colourful. In the general election, her posters were everywhere, with three versions including one in her graduation robes and one where she's looking like a successful busi¬nesswoman in white.

In his usual style, Chuwit can be expected to come up with attractive banners. As suggested by previous banners, Chuwit will not simply call for votes but also provide interest¬ing slogans. The newest one found along the expressway says: "I dreamt that Thais love each other. Will my dream come true?" Another one placed along the Skytrain says: "Next stop, Bangkok. I'll vote for Chuwit to change Bangkok".

With his inimitable style, Chuwit won more than 300,000 votes last time. That showing came amid crit¬icism that he had too many posters and banners on the streets.

I don't know if the criticism will reoccur. The Election Commission stipulated that candidates must ensure the size and number of their posters and banners comply with the laws. The number of posters measuring 30cm by 42cm must not exceed 15 times the number of polling booths, which is 6,337 booths. Banners of 130x245cm must not exceed five times the polling booths.

If each candidate produced as many as allowed, each could have 95,055 small posters and 31,685 large posters posted across the city. If there are 10 candidates rich enough to finance the maximum production, the number would then be 950,000 and 316,850.

You would damage your eyes if you tried to count them all on the streets. So it's a good thing that the counting is the responsibility of the Election Commission.