Election Thai style
Santsak Ngarmpiches re-elected
Going against the national tide, Chonburi citizens
voted in a full slate of Chart Thai candidates. All seven seats in the
three constituencies went to members of the former coalition leading
Chart Thai Party.
In Constituency 3, which includes Pattaya, Santsak Ngarmpiches and
Charnsak Chavalitnititham were voted in by an overwhelming margin and
will represent this district in the national government.
Charnsak
Chavalitnititham - Pattaya’s new MP
In Constituencies 1 & 2, Witaya Khunpluem, Sa-Nga Thasanguanwong,
Sonchai Sahachai-Rungruen, Sontaya Khunpluem, and Surasith
Nitiwuttivoraluk were also voted in to represent the Chart Thai party.
Sontaya Khunpluem, unofficial spokesman for the group, told the media
the reason he thought the entire team was elected was due to their
excellent performance in the past 14 months. Khunpluem said that the
team was able to appropriate a budget for Chonburi of no less than
10,000 million baht, which was used to initiate and complete projects
which the public could see, including new roads, better electricity,
khlongs to clear out rain water and projects that helped the general
well being of every individual in Chonburi.
Now that Chart Thai leader Banharn Silpa-archa will be stepping down as
Prime Minister, relinquishing his post to new Prime Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh of the New Aspiration Party, it appears as though the Chart
Thai party will not be a part of the new coalition government. It
remains to be seen how this will affect out local representatives
ability to keep favourable projects coming Pattaya’s way.
The “Top News” program,
presented by the News Centre for the Eastern Seaboard, invited four
candidates from the Chart Thai Party for a discussion. Featured were Mr.
Somchai Sahachairungreung, from District 1, Mr. Surin Nitiwuthiwararak
from District 2, and Dr. Sansak Ngarmphiches and Mr. Charnsak
Chawalitnititham from District 3. The subject of discussion was
‘Political Trends and the Election in Chonburi’, and will be broadcast
at the Grand Sole Hotel on cable TV.
Luminaries of the
victorious Chart Thai party in the final stages of their campaign.
Students from Pattaya
school number 5 got caught up in the election fun and held a parade to
encourage citizens to vote. The democracy loving scholars also rallied
against vote buying and other forms of political misconduct.
Democracy is alive and
well in Thailand as these voters show while campaigning for their local
favourites.
