With only two weeks to go before the Bangkok gubernatorial and councillor elections on Sunday May 22nd, the Election Commission is to launch a city-wide campaign tomorrow (Monday) to urge Bangkok’s voters to go to the polls.
The launch event will be held at City Hall, after which a convoy of trucks, equipped with loudspeakers, will tour the streets of Bangkok’s 50 districts to drive home the message that the electorate should exercise its voting right, the first time in nine years for the Bangkok governor and 12 years for the councillors. The campaign will continue until one day before the election.
The elections of Pattaya’s mayor and councillors are also to be held on May 22nd.
Meanwhile, Samran Tanpanich, director of the Bangkok elections, warned candidates not to do anything beyond the permissible legal limits regarding election spending, authorities and duties.
He said today that election campaigning by governor and councillor candidates has, so far, been mostly within the framework of the law, with exception of some complaints about campaign posters, adding that he has found some councillor candidates exceeding their authority in their electioneering.
He also said that some campaign staffers had distributed T-shirts to their children, who are not part of their staff, warning that this practice could be deemed to be vote buying, which is against the law.
