Bangkok Post – Senate candidates recall that silence is a virtue

Provincial-level senatorial elections will be held across the country on Sunday as the Electoral Commission (EC) has asked candidates to report to polling stations on time and without showing up during voting.

EC Secretary-General Sawaeng Boonmee led a team of election officials to inspect the Vayupak Convention Center located at Centara Life Government Complex Hotel on Chaeng Watthana Road in Lak Si district, which serves as the office voting for the district level vote in Bangkok.

Mr Sawaeng said the number of successful candidates has been reduced as the process moves from district to provincial level, so voting is expected to go smoothly.

A total of 23,645 candidates have been pre-selected for the provincial-level elections, and Mr Sawaeng stressed that they must report for registration at provincial polling stations between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Sunday. Those who are late will lose their right to show up.

“A single second of delay is not allowed. Each candidate must manage their travel time to avoid traffic jams,” he said.

He added that candidates were also prohibited from introducing themselves to other candidates at polling stations.

Wantanee Watana, deputy registrar of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), said journalists and the public will be allowed to observe the election process via CCTV, but interviews will not be allowed.

She also said provincial election offices must provide facilities to accommodate disabled or elderly candidates running in senatorial elections, such as wheelchair ramps, rails and vehicle elevators to allow them easy access to buildings.

Polling stations for these groups of candidates should be located on the ground floor of a building, Dr. Wantanee said.

Under the 2017 constitution, the new Senate that will succeed the junta-appointed chamber will include 200 members selected from 20 professional groups, with 10 seats available for each group. They will not be elected directly by the public.

The election, organized by the Election Commission (EC), is a three-phase process in which candidates choose among themselves both from their own group and from other professional groups at the district, provincial and from the country.

At the district level, there was an intra-group election in which five candidates with the highest number of votes in each group proceeded to an inter-group election.

During the intergroup poll, the three candidates with the highest number of votes were pre-selected by group, i.e. 60 divided into 20 groups.

The shortlisted candidates now repeat a similar process at the provincial level, but this time in the inter-group vote, only the two candidates with the most votes in each group progress to the national final stage in which the top 10 from each of the groups 20 groups are selected as senators.