Governor-elect to unveil his deputies, advisors

"Some will come from the former Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin's team, while some are from my own team," Sukhumbhand explained yesterday.

Apirak won his second term with a landslide victory last October, but later resigned over suggestions that he be indicted over a corruption case.

 Still, Apirak remained popular among Bangkokians and actively helped with fellow Democrat Sukhumbhand's campaign.

The governor-elect was also impressive during the race, attracting 934,602 votes.

"I am happy with the results. Voting for me is like voting for the Democrat Party," Sukhumbhand elect said yesterday after participating in a merit-making ceremony at a Bangkok temple.

Some 2.12 million, or about 51.1 per cent of eligible voters, cast their ballot on Sunday.

Yuranan Pamornmontri of the Pheu Thai Party got 611,669 votes; ML Nattakorn Devakula came third with 334,846 and Kaewsan Atibodhi won 144,779.

Nattakorn and Kaewsan were independent candidates.

The Election Commission (EC) has yet to endorse the election results.

Ping Rungsamai - who chairs the Bangkok Election Commission - said the main body would decide on what to do with the ballots from the Bangkok's Phya Thai district, which has some 30,000 eligible voters.

Votes at the district are being questioned because officials at the 70th polling station opened a ballot box before sending it to vote-counting officials. The chief of the polling station later explained that the ballot box had been opened because officials wanted to see how many ballots were in the box and if it corresponded to the number of ballots handed out by them.