First-time voters turn out in force to ‘do duty’

Published on February 7, 2005

Young first-time voters have shown themselves to be enthusiastic about exercising their right to vote, and well-informed about politics and politicians.

Young voters aged 18 to 22 interviewed by The Nation either voted for Thai Rak Thai or the opposition Democrat Party.

But Jakarat Jankongchuoy, 20, a junior student at Dhurakit Bandit University, said he went to the polls to vote for no one.

Although a few first-time voters said they were bored with politics, they went to the polls because they knew it was their duty as citizens.

“I’ve never paid any attention to politics or elections. It’s such a boring topic for us [young voters],” said 20-year-old Jakrin Chantanapuma, from Srinakarinwirot University.

First-time voters who cast ballots for TRT cited party leader Thaksin Shinawatra’s decisiveness, strong leadership and government-initiated projects as the reasons for their support.

Nithirith Kankhep, 20, a sophomore at Rajabat Institute’s Bansomdej campus, said Thaksin had demonstrated his quality as a leader through his determination and decisiveness.

“He was able to pay off the money owed to the International Monetary Fund that was caused by the economic crash many years ago. And now the Thai economy is growing well,” he said.

Some first-time voters were not impressed with TRT, raising concerns about what they said was the government’s extravagant spending and populist programmes such as the Bt30 healthcare scheme. Yupawadee Nakkong, 20, a junior at Bangkok University, said she disagreed with the government’s Bt30 healthcare scheme, as she believed it was not really beneficial to the public.

“One of my relatives used to see a doctor under the Bt30 health-care scheme and the doctor did not treat her properly. The scheme is worse than social security,” she said.

Those who voted Democrat pointed to the significance of the opposition as a checks-and-balances force, and said they trusted the Democrats to perform that duty. Some said they did not vote TRT because they feared one-party rule. “I expected Thai Rak Thai to win, but I voted for the Democrats because I want a checks-and-balances system,” said Prapatporn Mandee, 18, a freshman at Technology Borpitpimik College. First-time voters were also knowledgeable about the party-list and candidate system.

Wanassanan Sripaisan, a 20-year-old student at Silapakorn University, said she voted for TRT on the MP list, but chose the Democrats for the party list.

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