Not enough ballot papers . . . or time

Published on February 7, 2005

Hundreds of voters yesterday protested at polling stations, after being left out in the cold when election officials sealed ballot boxes at 3pm.

“Some people had waited for a few hours to vote. Many of them held queue cards for their turn at the ballot box, and then suddenly they were not allowed to vote,” said Winai Prakobtham, chairman of the Tambon Takian Tia Administrative Organisation.

Tambon Takian Tia is located in Chon Buri’s Bang Lamung district. “The Election Commission should have been more prepared to efficiently man the polling stations. It should have provided more staff,’’ Winai said.

Similar protests took place in Chiang Mai, Satun and Narathiwat. In Chiang Mai, more than 200 voters protested so

loudly at two polling stations that provincial-election officials were forced to negotiate with them.

Voters were then allowed to cast ballots after 3pm, even though the law states that boxes must be closed at 3pm.

Voters in Satun and Narathiwat were angry that officials sealed ballot boxes before they could vote, blocking officials as they tried to take away the boxes. Negotiations between election officials and voters were underway there as of late yesterday.

Yesterday’s voter turnout was high, with ballot supplies running out at many polling stations and traffic paralysed in several major areas. “We had to ask for more ballots from another constituency, after several polling stations ran out of ballots before noon,” said Jiampajon Chaiyalak, election chief of Chiang Mai’s Constituency 7.

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