Thailand's Election Aftermath: Violence Disrupts Count by Phairath Khampha 29 January 2001 Vote counting following the January 6, 2000 parliamentary elections in Thailand was marred by violence, amid protests over the results in several constituencies. At least 10 percent of the votes cast in constituency ballots were deemed invalid, fuelling suspicion that the election was marred by widespread rigging scams. In some instances, anger was provoked by the fact that officials conducting the count had obviously shown favouritism towards a particular candidate. In one southern province, police vehicles were set on fire by supporters of the losing candidate. The trouble was also partly instigated by bookmakers and gamblers who stood to lose large sums of money from bets placed on the election outcome. It came as Thaksin Shinawatra, the leader of the victorious Thai Rak Thai party, held further talks with potential coalition partners over the shape of his new administration. A revote was set in 62 constituencies after it was revealed that the polls there were fraudulent. Much of what happened after the election served to demonstrate that Thailand is still not truly a democracy. Police reinforcements The trouble was focussed mainly in southern provinces, where supporters of several defeated candidates managed to bring the vote counting process to a halt. Police drafted in reinforcements to 10 provinces where demonstrators had blocked roads and laid siege to vote-counting centres. One of the worst incidents took place in Songkhla, close to the Malaysian border, where a midnight curfew was ordered after some 500 people clashed with riot police. Fifteen protestors were reported injured. Delay in results The troubles in the south added to the delay in finalising the election results, but they failed to distract Mr Thaksin from the task of constructing a workable governing coalition. The billionaire tycoon negotiated with two potential coalition partners - the New Aspiration Party and the Chart Thai or Thai Nation Party. Given the scale of his election success, Mr Thaksin was in a strong position to dictate the shape of the new cabinet. But he faced personal difficulties stemming from his late December indictment on charges of failing to disclose his financial assets, tax evasion and other corrupt activities, which could see him barred from taking any post himself, including the premiership. Widespread vote scams suspected At least 10 percent of votes cast in constituency ballots have been deemed invalid, fuelling suspicion that the January 6 poll was marred by widespread rigging scams. The Election Commission was unable on January 9 to figure out why there were up to 2.4 million invalid ballots in the constituency poll (9.99 per cent of all votes counted), while invalid ballots in the party-list system only totalled 2.39 per cent. The unprecedented high number of invalid ballots in the constituency vote gave added credence to numerous protests and complaints about the conduct of vote-counting officials throughout the country. Suspicion intensified with the release of a videotape that same day that revealed dubious behaviour by a woman counting votes in Saraburi's constituency 2. The videotape, recorded by a local cable-TV cameraman, shows Nonglak Pimpramote doing something with ballots while her hands are under the table. The constituency registered an invalid-ballot rate of about 10 percent. Nonglak, contacted by reporters after the footage was played repeatedly on Nation Channel, denied any wrongdoing. She said her duty was to sign her name on invalid ballots and that this task was easier to do under the table when her hands felt tired. "I haven't watched the video, but I guess I was filmed when I was changing my post in order to relax my hand," she said. "It hurts when you volunteered to do something for the country and end up getting accused like this." Wanapon Janvithan of the New Aspiration Party, a losing candidate in constituency 2, filed a complaint with the Election Commission, citing the video "evidence". His submission only added to countless complaints that had been received by the EC since election day. The new vote-counting system, in which all ballots cast in a constituency were taken from polling booths to a central counting venue, spawned several allegations of irregularities. Some charges, however, stemmed from observers' confusion. At the central venue, officials were split into teams and counted votes simultaneously, purposely adding confusion to an atmosphere which critics said allowed room for cheating. Moreover, votes were counted quickly and ballots were not clearly shown to witnesses, as was the case when votes were counted at individual polling booths. Cheating was also suspected during the transport of ballot boxes from certain areas to the central counting venues. In Songkhla losing candidates demanded a provincial re-election. Among various charges raised was that several ballots were obviously marked by the same person. The EC agreed to sample Songkhla ballots to check a pattern of possible irregularities. Meanwhile, a supporter of Democrat Sukhumbhand Paribatra said he had been abducted by five men claiming to be election officials. Somsak Rungpraepand was taken from his home for eight hours and forced to confess that Sukhumbhand bought votes, the Democrat Party spokesman Sathit Wongnongtoey said on January 10. Sukhumbhand, the Democrat candidate for Bangkok's constituency 6, won the poll, with Thai Rak Thai Party candidate Orathai Thanajaro finishing a close second. According to Sathit, Somsak was taken to Ayutthaya and forced to confess that Sukhumbhand bought votes. "The group told Somsak that his wife had confessed to them and that she was with their boss. But Somsak insisted that Sukhumbhand did not buy votes. After eight hours, he was brought back in a van and released at Suan Chatuchak," Sathit said. Somsak said the group blocked him from seeing the van's licence plate. Somsak reported that the party had requested police protection for his family, Sathit said. Democrat officials suspected police officers from Plabplachai police station were involved in the abduction. The party has requested Interior Minister Banyat Bantadtan to get the Crime Suppression Division to investigate the matter. Deputy Crime Suppression Division Commander Pol Col Somboon Huabbangyang said he had been informed that the two police officers were from Plabplachai police station. The van that carried Somsak and the group was a military vehicle, as it had an identifying insignia attached to the side. Somsak's case was among 18 allegations of electoral wrongdoing the Democrat Party filed with the Election Commission. Of the 18 cases, party officials said they had obvious and substantial evidence for three matters which they believe will lead to prosecutions. The party also had videotapes recording the vote count in Bangkok's Wangthonglang district showing that Poowanat Kunpalin, a younger brother of the Thai Rak Thai candidate, was in the polling station. The video showed that officials breached electoral rules by not showing the ballots to observers after the count. Sathit said the house of the man who recorded the video had been broken into. It was believed intruders were searching for the video, as other assets were left untouched. In another case, in Khon Kaen's constituency 1, the party had videotapes showing that many ballots did not have voter signatures, and that many others did not have reporter markings. Again, Sathit said that election officials breached electoral rules. Thai Rak Thai Party candidate Thanat Thaweekuakulkit alleged that election officials in Tak's constituency 1 cheated by falsely declaring ballots marked for Thai Rak Thai as invalid. He said there were 10,507 invalid ballots. He said the voting boxes were delivered late and some boxes were not in good condition as if they had been tampered with. He submitted four videotapes to the Election Commission on January 10 as evidence. Meanwhile, the Election Commission reported protests against vote counts in 34 provinces where counts were completed. Recounts were demanded in 22 provinces, and a new election sought in 12. There were 35 provinces in which the vote counts were completed without protest and six where vote counts have yet to be completed. Counting is still to be completed in Surat Thani, Krabi, Phattalung, Songkhla, Kanchanaburi and Maha Sarakham. And so, who could ever say that Thailand had had a clean election. In fact, this election seemed worse than those before it, despite the safeguards supposedly broiught in with the new Consitution in 1997. Obviously the Thais have no sense of democracy, honesty, fair play and civilised behaviour in elections. New faces flee provinces for safety of city Beware the wrath of a scorned provincial politician. That seemed to be the advice many newcomers to parliament were taking in the wake of the election, which saw several big-name politicians unseated from their strongholds. This demonstrated how uncivilised, barbaric and undemocratic and feudal Thai politcs really are. Democrat Rangsima Rodrasamee did not even wait for the election results to be posted. She fled Samut Songkhram province three days before the election "just to be on the safe side". After losing to the New Aspiration Party's Nukul Thanikul in the last election, Rangsima spent four years building up a voter base, which helped her win this time around. She beat the incumbent by an unprecedented margin of more than 40,000 votes. "After four years of campaigning, we should know if this area is violent or not," Rangsima said. Once she had finished gauging the voters, and was sure she was going to win, she quickly left her constituency. "I just wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to me," she said. Before winning a seat in the election, Payao Poontarat won an Olympic bronze medal in the boxing ring. Yet, he too believes it is better to be safe than sorry. After his sweeping victory in Prachuab Khiri Khan, Democrat Party officials in Bangkok advised him and other party members to leave for the capital right away. Payao and the two other Democrat winners, Montri Panoinon and Chalermchai Sri-orn, beat members of the Tangtong family and former MP Sampao Prachuabmoh. Udomsak Tangtong fielded his two sons for the Thai Rak Thai Party. "They ordered us to meet up in Bangkok because we so easily beat the rest, including the former MP," Payao said. While Payao said he was certain there would be no violent reaction to his win, the party's team in Bangkok warned him that his safety could not be assured. "I don't have any problems with anyone in the area, and I have the utmost respect for the former MP," Payao said. However, his supporters agreed with the party officials in the capital and today Payao is based in Bangkok with four police officers as bodyguards. Thai Rak Thai newcomer Salintip Chaisadom, based in Pak Nam, Samut Prakan, has also become cautions after a couple of suspicious-looking characters questioned people in her office about her comings and goings. "I have been changing places where I sleep every night and changing my cars just to be careful. The police have come to assist us, which makes me feel safer, but I try not to go outside unless it's absolutely necessary," Salintip said. Other than territorial influence, the violent protests also scared newly elected MPs. Protesters in Satun province first attacked the ballot counting site, where they set fire to police cars and motorcycles, before they moved on to the office of Democrat Sanan Suthakul. The protesters then torched the office, prompting Sanan to flee for a safer location in the same province. The Thais really are sore losers and are selfishly concerned with their own needs, hence if a person is not suited to their needs--off with his or her head. How backwards and uncivilised. Banharn demands complete recount - Chart Thai party reels at poor showing The very corrupt former Thai Prime Minister and Chart Thai leader, who in the past was Thailand's kingmaker, called on January 10 for a fresh count of election ballots on grounds that the process had been bungled. Banharn Silpa-archa said Chart Thai had missed out on more than one million party list votes, and alleged too many ballots had been invalidated in the constituencies. Mr Banharn made his demand after the Election Commission indicated the 100 party list seats were likely to be shared among Thai Rak Thai and the Democrats. A party needed at least 1.55 million votes, or 5 percent of the 30 million voters, to be eligible for a seat. Counts from 322 of the 400 constituencies put Chart Thai, Chart Pattana and New Aspiration short of the minimum, said Yuwarat Kamolvej, a commissioner. Mr Banharn based his demand on the following points: - Too many ballots were counted at one unit. He said there should have been more than one centre for every constituency to handle tens of thousands of ballots to avoid confusion and errors. - Officials might have been fatigued after a long day's work and mistakes could have been made. - They might have mistaken one numeral for another, either inadvertently or deliberately. - At a number of centres, a rigging conspiracies were at play. Candidates had some election officials rig the contest one way or another. - A number of good ballots could have been invalidated fraudulently. In one constituency, he said, more than 5,000 were invalidated but the winner beat the runner-up by a few hundred votes. - Children and other unqualified persons had been employed in the count. It was unusual, he said, for Chart Thai's party list to have gained about 2,400 votes from constituencies in Nakhon Ratchasima in which his men ran. "Our list should have gained one million votes more than reported so far," said the former premier. "Where could so many possibly have gone? It's impossible for us to win a little more than 30,000 votes from 10 constituencies in Korat [Nakhon Ratchasima]. It was quite unbelievable that we came up so short," said Mr Banharn. However, many Thais were fed up with the criminal, corrupt, greedy and selfish practices of people such as Banharn, hence this might only have been a sign of a swift backlash against people of such ilk. Banharn is known as the godfather of Suphanburi and behind the scenes has run the province as well as Thailand much the same way as Sicily has been run by the Italian Mafia. Individual candidates may ask for a recount in their respective constituencies, but the party itself would not, he said. A dozen Chart Thai candidates running in the northeastern and central regions quickly lodged complaints of vote-rigging and human error which they said had stolen their victory, and demanded a recount or a re-election. They included candidates in Sing Buri, Nakhon Nayok, Roi-et and Chon Buri. One day earlier, the Chart Thai leader blamed his own candidates for the failure to win enough votes, especially those in the Northeast and the South. Mr Yuwarat yesterday disclosed the party list vote counts in 322 constituencies: Thai Rak Thai, 9,557,279 (41.56%); Democrats, 5,864,722 (25.5%); New Aspiration, 1,476,994 (6.42%), Chart Pattana, 1,448,380 (6.30%); and Chart Thai, 1,326,884 (5.77%). A commission source said it would be hard for Chart Thai to get the extra 100,000 votes needed to earn House seats because the remaining constituencies where votes had yet to be counted were not Chart Thai's turf. The source said the failure of Chart Thai, New Aspiration and Chart Pattana to gain any party list seats would be a windfall for the Democrats and Thai Rak Thai which altogether might win up to 270 seats from both constituency and party list polls. Thai Rak Thai implied it might not work with Chart Thai in a coalition if the party failed to win any list seats. Revote Held in Four Thai Constituencies Under the gaze of video cameras and extra police, Thais again voted on January 13 in four constituencies where the previous week's general election had to be canceled because of irregularities and electoral fraud. Long queues formed outside polling booths in the western Kanchanaburi province, but voter turnout was low in northern Maha Sarakham province, ITV television said. About 30,000 people were eligible to vote in the four constituencies where officials had canceled the January 6 election. In one place, the revote was called after more ballots were found in the boxes than the number of eligible voters. For the January 13 revote, the Election Commission deployed 15 policemen at each polling station, eight more that were posted during the previous week's election. In one polling station in Maha Sarakham, party activists were seen recording the election process with video cameras to monitor possible fraud, Channel 9 television said. It was the first time that an election produced a clear majority in Thailand, which had always been governed by coalition governments. But Thaksin has said he would also seek a coalition to reinforce his legislative strength. Fraud anger mires Thailand's election count More than one-thousand demonstrators threatened to storm the compound of Thailand's election commission to press their demands for vote recounts. The protestors -- who were kept at bay by police -- burned coffins outside the building. Reports of vote-buying and ballot-box-tampering delayed the official release of results from the elections. One organisation monitoring the poll said it had evidence of election fraud in eighty-four constituencies. The group, Pollwatch, said that the winners in those constituencies should be disqualified. Partial revote ordered Election officials in Thailand ordered a second round of voting in 62 constituencies, because of irregularities and fraud during the general election. The move threw into question the predicted landslide by the Thai Rak Thai party, although it had won more than half of the three hundred and eight constituencies where results had been approved. A much larger question hung over the future of the leader of the Thai Rak Thai party, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was now certain to become the next prime minister but faced corruption charges in the constitutional court and could be disqualified from office if he were found guilty. Drunken mob rampages after Thai Rak Thai man red-carded and local election office trashed in Surin Angry Thai Rak Thai supporters rampaged through the Surin Province electoral office on January 25 in protest over the Election Commission's decision to red-card their candidate. The young protesters, many of whom appeared drunk, smashed furniture, windows, office equipment and damaged three motorcycles, and in doing so quickly demonstrated that the Thai people seem not to properly understand the concept of democracy and fair play. They also set fire to documents during the violence on the Rajabhat Institute's Surin campus. Pol Lt-Col Veerapong Pongpoom, deputy superintendent for suppression, suffered a dislocated shoulder when he fell from the second floor of the Chom Surin building as he tried to stop the destruction. The January 25 protest was a continuation of a rally the night before in front of the provincial hall by about 2,000 people from Sangkha district and Srinarong sub-district. The mob was angry that their candidate in constituency 4, Thirachai Tiewcharoensopha of Thai Rak Thai, was disqualified on grounds of campaign fraud and electoral corruption. At the height of the unrest the crowd swelled to around 5,000, including about 300 youths who appeared to have been drinking heavily beforehand. Their leaders castigated provincial election officials and others threw missiles at the office, forcing staff to flee. About 300 policemen and volunteers were at the scene to maintain order but they failed to control the mob. The trouble-makers later dispersed but many protesters kept a vigil in front of the provincial election committee office. Surin governor Kasemsak Saejpoj and police superintendent Pol Col Veerawong Oonsap later made an inspection of the office and ordered an around-the-clock guard to prevent further trouble. In Samut Prakan Province, notorious for its dishonest and corrupt citizens and leaders, supporters of yellow-carded Rassadorn candidate Raewwadee Rassameetat began a campaign for the amendment of election laws to make dishonest poll officials more liable to punishment. Campaigners said it was not acceptable that guilty officials could just resign and escape penalties. Santi Jongjittapibarn, the election chief in constituency 6, resigned after accusations of bias. Ms Raewwadee stood in the second round of voting on January 29 against Sanit Kulcharoen of Chart Pattana and Somchai Intharakhao of Thai Rak Thai. She was the only Rassadorn candidate to win on January 6, but her victory was nullified by the Election Commission because she, too, appeared to have been involved in some rather nefarious electoral activities.